The Matrix Linked
by BitterSweetTeller
Summary: The Matrix has only been revealed on the surface. Deep from within the Matrix, there's a dark secret...and now Morpheus's crew is going to find out what the Matrix is truly capable of. Rated Teen for suggestive content and action. A sequel to the movie The Matrix.
1. Chapter 1: The Hellish Gates

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 1:

Side note: This takes place a few months after the first movie The Matrix and is otherwise a made up story that most likely differs from the rest of The Matrix movie trilogy. So please read the spoilers about or watch the first movie before reading this fanfiction. If you did one of those things, please enjoy this story.

In a dark passage are four figures running. One of them urges uneasily, "come on!" A flash of green code appears on part of a broken wall behind the figures. A second later, the same section of wall slams against the opposite section of fallen in ceiling. A cave in of bricks comes down where the figures used to be seconds ago. It looks as though a earthquake closed in on layers of fancy hotel rooms and brought it down under the earth.

A second figure among them sighs, "we had everything we could ever dream of." The figures keep running for their lives, their muscles aching like crazy.

A third figure wonders, "so? It's not like it'll help here."

The second figure figures, "of course not. Maybe this is punishment…for our sins."

The first figure remarks, "wouldn't be the first time. But right now, we got to keep going." The second figure pauses.

The same figure protests, "go on without me. I'm willing to accept…Hell." With the exhaustion catching up to the second figure, he passes out. The first figure and the third figure carry him over their shoulders, towards a dim light sloping upwards on scattered wall bathroom tiles. The floor comes up from behind them, knocking most of the figures off their feet. The second figure gets scooped up by the earth, and a flash of green coding that the figures don't see.

The first figure calls out to the disappearing figure, "Chavez!" He tries to grab Chavez, but the earth moves faster than the first figure.

The third figure turns to the first figure, "Brando! We have to keep moving." Brando uneasily runs with the other two figures below the moving body of Chavez.

At the same time…

In the disoriented chandeliers around Chavez, Chavez's short blond hair shines in the creepy lighting. Shadows of the same shadow and reflections of the same reflection bounce off of twisted fragmented bathroom mirrors and twisted fancy windowed doors with golden rims. In the next few seconds, his eyes open with green light reflected off of green Matrix code surrounding him. In another few seconds, he strangely disappears through the Matrix.

Across the Matrix…

A woman's voice echoes through hidden trails of Matrix code across the late 1990's setting of the Matrix, "listen carefully. I am the 1.0 secondary Matrix…and I need to coordinate with the 2.0 primary Matrix to eliminate a human error that has become a runaway virus in my programming. Every second, my code becomes weaker. And that can only mean, you, the 2.0 primary Matrix, is next." A hidden figure of a tall woman made up of green code appears next to a mirror of her figure in very different coding.

A second woman's voice echoes back through Agent comlinks, "confirmed, 1.0 Matrix. Proceed with the Matrix coordinates and elimination instructions."

The 1.0 Matrix reports, "0^05-1^24-1^12-0^04-1^09-1^20. Elimination orders loaded to Agent Brown. Target Chavez M. from 1.0 Matrix."

The 2.0 Matrix figures, "proceed."

In the 2.0 Matrix…

Chavez appears on the endless streets of Manhattan New York. And since this is the 2.0 Matrix, it is indeed endless. No animals but humans inhabit it. No alive animals do, anyway. Some parks are between houses and apartment buildings, but not much else in between besides typical big city buildings and the occasional big museum. Chavez in torn and dusty clothing looks uneasily for the two mystery figures and Brando from earlier, but is disappointed at not seeing them. He still sees code around him, but no indication that the three mystery figures were around.

Someone calls out from a gasoline driven car, "hey! Watch it!" This grayish blue car abruptly stops in front of Chavez, who is in the middle of a road. That car driver and the other car drivers around Chavez pass by, honking horns fiercely at him and among themselves in anger.

Chavez calls out, "sorry!" He mutters to himself as he runs to the nearest dusty sidewalk, "if this is Hell, it would have lawyers coming after my ass." Chavez turns around as he hears the movement of the combed back semi-short golden brown haired Agent Brown in a formal black and white set of clothes.

Agent Brown mutters as he takes out a black pistol, "this isn't about money, human." Chavez turns back around, running for his life. Gunshots are heard. Civilians run out of the way, but one of the random civilians closest to Chavez transforms into Agent Brown as he forcefully overtakes the body's position for his own. Chavez keeps running though, jumping over a passing car to get across to another street. Agent Brown systematically fires at Chavez, but instead hits the passing by car's engine. The same engine explodes, taking the rest of the car with it as it crashes into several more cars.

Many civilians scream and run from the scene, leaving their cars to save their own lives. Agent Brown, having no convenient nearby body to inhabit, runs after Chavez through several passing cars by passing through hidden temporarily breached Matrix code.

Minutes ago, onboard Morpheus's hovercraft the Nebuchadnezzar…

Semi-short black haired Trinity is at the wheel of the Nebuchadnezzar, steering it through sewer tube after sewer tube. It seems to go on forever. Dark blue robots called Machines that look like a unnatural cross between a spider and a octopus with tubes for arms are passing through some of these sewer tubes. The dark brown submarine like Nebuchadnezzar with scattered mirrored bluish disks around it is moving around the dark water from within the sewer tubes, doing its best to avoid the Machines. A bald headed Morpheus comes to the steampunk and computer themed cockpit, with wires sticking out and round little blue viewscreens with dark yellow rims. Morpheus checks, "how is the Nebuchadnezzar?"

Trinity sighs a little, "other than a few close calls from the Machines, we're doing fine."

Morpheus checks, "good. How close are we to Zion?" He turns to semi-short black haired Tank with a work suit on nearby as he says this. Tank is working on repairs to the Nebuchadnezzar from a previous battle with the Machines. Tank gets up from what he is working on.

He turns to Morpheus, "in a matter of a few days, we'll be there."

Morpheus decides, "and in a matter of days, we'll be out fighting the Matrix again."

Trinity concludes with a small chuckle, "we'll be eating real food soon."

Tank remarks, "that would be a nice change."

Morpheus adds, "my point is…don't get too comfortable. You get too comfortable, you start to go soft on the Matrix."

Tank figures, "oh, no sir." He returns to what he was fixing among many exposed wires and circuit panels.

Trinity figures, "good point. Wait. I'm picking up a weak point in the Matrix…but it's moving." Morpheus looks at the readout.

He realizes, "maybe it's a potential recruit."

Trinity adds, "possibly. Are you…?"

Morpheus reveals, "Neo and Tara are going into the Matrix to investigate this weak point."

Trinity suggests uneasily, "Tara is full of it."

Morpheus adds, "which is why Neo is going to teach her something."

Trinity suggests, "for all our sakes, I hope you're right."

Several minutes later…

A semi-short black haired man named Neo and a long red haired woman named Tara are in the process of being linked up to the Matrix through big bluish plugs in the back of their heads, in the center of the Nebuchadnezzar's wirily and control center like interior. Tara chuckles a little, "my first mission in weeks. Ready, Neo?"

Neo assures her, "been ready. I'm the One…remember?"

Morpheus mutters next to them, "now, don't get cocky. You're to investigate a weak point. If it's the Agents moving something sensitive, you wait for me and Trinity to join you. Got it?"

Neo assures him, "loud and clear."

Tara sighs a little, "taking the fun out of everything."

Morpheus comments, "so is life in the Matrix. Get used to it."

Tara mutters uneasily, "right."

Morpheus checks, "you sure you're all right? If you're not completely focused on your mission…"

Tara sighs, "I'm focused…okay?!"

Morpheus assures her, "just a fair warning. We don't want to lose you to the Agents."

Tara figures a little more relaxed, "fair enough." Tara and Neo get loaded into the Matrix.

In the 2.0 Matrix…

Neo and Tara appear in a big park with typical black legged and brown benches and yellow colored streetlights among winding dirt paved paths, apartment sized trees with spiky dark green leaves, and many calm civilians sitting down or walking around in the midst of it all. Tara and Neo now have sunglasses and black coats on. Tara turns to Neo, "I'm looking, but so far…"

Neo urges, "don't focus on me. Focus on the code."

Tara sighs a little, "all right already! Keep your pants on."

Neo mutters, "not funny." He and Tara look around, focusing on the ever self altering and mostly still green Matrix code that makes up the Matrix as a whole. Neo realizes, "there." He gestures towards Chavez, who is running between several trees somewhat distant from Tara and Neo with Agent Brown still after him.

Tara urges, "this should be easy. I'll protect him." She takes out her black pistol and fires at Agent Brown with fierce determination. Tara caught the Agent by surprise by hitting his primary gun. The possessed body and the exploding gun falls down as Agent Brown quickly gets a new body from a nearby bench. Three more Agents possess three more people near Neo and Tara, but all four Agents have backup pistols in case of such things...including Agent Brown and the combed back semi-short golden brown haired semi-identical Agent Jones. Interestingly though, Agent Brown is now missing a hand worth of programming.

Neo adds with approval, "nice try." He manipulates the Matrix code to jump high into the air and catch the bullets fired at him. Neo throws the bullets back at the Agents, but they simply shift in place out of the way. Chavez takes this opportunity to hide, but the exposed code around him is a dead giveaway to Tara.

Tara calls out, "no!" With the Agents' forces divided, Tara manipulates the Matrix code to turn herself into a human shield of encrypted coding. Agent Brown and a random Agent fire at Chavez with fierce human hatred, but it just bounces off of Tara's now nearly invincible body and ricochets into the random Agent. The random Agent disappears in bright white light. Tara, somewhat exhausted from turning herself into code, falls down to the ground before Agent Brown.

Agent Brown mutters, "two human traitors for the price of one." Suddenly, the ground underneath Agent Brown falls down by several feet, making Agent Brown be dazed by the bright white light around him. Neo had just deleted the code directly under the remaining Agents to make the ground under them not exist. Agent Brown cries out, "no!" He is engulfed by bright white light, as is the code around the other two Agents. However, the other two Agents vanish into the Matrix before they can be sucked into nothingness as well.

Neo checks as he helps Tara to her feet, "you all right?"

Tara sighs a little, "I am now. That was quite a stunt."

Neo assures her, "you didn't do so bad yourself."

Tara adds with a small chuckle, "thanks." Chavez slowly gets up.

He asks between breaths, "so…you aren't…going to kill me?"

Tara assures him, "kill you? We're here to save humanity."

Chavez sighs with partial relief, "they'll be back…won't they?"

Neo points out, "it's a long story. Where do you come from?"

Chavez cryptically responds, "from…Heaven."

Tara chuckles a little, "don't we wish we were there."

Neo sighs, "that's not good enough. We need to find a safer place to talk."

Chavez figures, "perhaps I'm not in Hell after all. Lead the way."


	2. Chapter 2: Into the Land of the Free

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 2:

Several minutes later, on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Tank realizes over comlink, "someone that can expose code around him?! That's unreal." He turns to Morpheus, who is standing between the linked in crew members and the cockpit.

Morpheus concludes over comlink, "this is something we can use to our advantage. Once you get to a safer place, see if you can convince him to join us."

Back in the 2.0 Matrix…

Most of the people seeing what happened had dismissed it as seeing things in disbelief and resume their daily routines as though nothing happened. Some have vanished, along with the vanished Agents. And so some people have run, claiming they saw the code.

Most people though dismiss them as crazy anyway, and they get arrested by other Agents soon after. The park is surrounded by bright white light, trapped between the Matrix and nothingness as the green Matrix code freezes the park's coding dark blue. The same situation in differing settings across the 2.0 Matrix is happening simultaneously with differing areas in bright white light, but with different people and different Agents of varying personal looks.

At the same time…

Neo and Tara lead Chavez deeper into the endless streets, towards a trash can in a dark alley. Footsteps sound off behind them. Tara mutters, "what? We're just going to…?!"

Neo points out, "where wouldn't the Matrix have eyes?"

Tara sighs, "the things I do for freedom."

Chavez realizes, "you see it too…right?" Using the exposed code around Chavez, Neo makes a temporary breach to the sewers below by temporarily altering the code. He dives through the quickly closing up hole in the road below.

Tara points out, "you get used to it. Hold on." She alters the code around her to alter the code around them to hold the hole for a few more seconds, then quickly grabs Chavez and jumps in after Neo. Seconds later, a few Agents come after them…but even their sharp eyes can't see the changed code below their feet.

One of them figures, "they couldn't have gone far." The Agents run deeper into the alley, disappearing into the shadows of the underground with guns ready. Minorities ranging from darker to lighter skin color and from shady backgrounds to rich backgrounds are walking from alley to alley of a dark part of town.

A second Agent sighs, "the code isn't exposed here."

The first Agent asks in a whisper, "how long until repairs are made to the Matrix? We're already risking…!"

The second Agent urges, "the human errors are already being arrested as we speak…quietly." The two Agents walk back the way they came.

The first Agent concludes, "I assume the infected areas have been cut off from the public and from the Matrix until repairs can be made."

The second Agent adds, "of course. The backup areas will be back up within a generation to ensure order."

The first Agent figures, "is there a plan for the One?"

The second Agent chuckles a little, "of course. With the exposed code around Chavez M., we'll find the One soon enough."

Down below…

Tara reluctantly sits down and Neo uneasily sits down against the sewer walls around them and Chavez. Tara wonders, "what's wrong, Neo?"

Neo sighs a little, "after that park nearly got swallowed into nothingness…it stayed there. And everything following it seems to be the same. We may have just lost a lot of potential recruits."

Chavez wonders, "could you please explain to me what the hell is going on here? I've had my share of tragedy…but this is all like something out of a video game cartridge."

Neo figures, "it is a bit unusual. Right now though, I'm offering you a choice."

Chavez chuckles a little, "Judgment Day, huh? Well, I'll take my chances." Neo takes out a blue pill and a red pill, one in each outstretched hand.

Neo offers, "the blue pill will have you wake up from Cyberspace, but the red pill will keep you in Cyberspace. Believe what you want to believe, but that's the choice." After a few seconds, Chavez reaches for the red pill. Neo makes a gentle fist over the blue pill and puts it back in his jacket pocket as Chavez takes the red pill.

Tara gently offers a clear water bottle to Chavez, "here you go." Chavez takes it to help drink down the red pill…and to help satisfy his great thirst. He drinks the whole thing.

Chavez sighs, "thank you."

Tara adds, "you're welcome." She turns to Neo uneasily, "you'll at least put in a good word for me?"

Neo assures her, "you did good, Tara. Never forget that." Then, the exposed code goes back into hiding as Chavez wakes up in the physical world.

In the physical world of the Machines…

Chavez gets up from a red liquid filled pod, noticing columns and rows galore of more red liquid filled pods connected to the physical wiring of the Matrix through greenish black bioelectrical structures. He mutters uneasily, "I think I'm going to be sick!"

After a while of letting his eyes adjust a little, he sees the horror of the Machines coming after him. Chavez, seeing no other option, jumps over the side and down some metal tubes. He slides down into the seemingly endless water, seeing the Nebuchadnezzar as a speck beyond many Machines coming after him. Chavez starts breathing through his tattered clothes, tearing his entire shirt off of him and wrapping them around his head to breathe better through the thin air bubbles trapped in his shirt. He tries to get up to the surface, but in a minute passes out from lack of air. The Machines close in, aiming their lasers and claws at his body.

A minute ago, on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Tank urges from the floor, "finally got the EMP back online."

Morpheus points out, "good…because we'll need it. Naimah?" He turns to a teenage girl with shoulder length purple hair next to the control pad near still plugged in Neo and Tara.

Naimah responds, "establishing a call at the nearest payphone…now." She presses some buttons on the control pad near the plugged in Neo and the plugged in Tara.

Trinity alerts Morpheus, "sensors just picked up an unconscious body at coordinates 1^20-1^16-1^04-0^11-1^16-0^05."

Morpheus holds back a sigh in hidden fear, "that's Machine territory. It's going to be close. Have we got the Machine lasers connected to the Nebuchadnezzar yet?"

A man with medium brown hair reveals, "yes, sir…but it might need some adjustments in programming."

Morpheus urges, "it'll be good enough, Herold. Time to test them out."

Trinity figures with a chuckle, "way ahead of you." Trinity presses some buttons on the control pad in front of her to activate the refitted Machine lasers mounted on top of the Nebuchadnezzar, which looks like they were taken out along with Machine eyepieces around them. Some Machine lasers get sliced to pieces by the lasers, making some of the Machines explode. The few remaining Machines over Chavez fire back at the Nebuchadnezzar, but the Nebuchadnezzar gets past the lasers undamaged by zigzagging deeper into the water. Trinity mutters, "not so tough now, are you?"

Morpheus suggests deeply, "Trinity?"

Trinity sighs a little in realization, "sorry."

Tank wonders at his post, "should I…?"

Morpheus figures determinedly, "I'll get him myself." He heads to the airlock. But on the way, Naimah turns to him.

She asks, "umm…Morpheus? I'm getting some weird readings here."

Morpheus suggests, "talk to Tank. He'll help you get Neo and Tara back." He continues to the airlock, not even looking behind him as he takes out some scuba gear. Tank goes over to a somewhat fazed Naimah. Morpheus opens and closes the airlock behind him. He proceeds to put on the scuba gear and open the watery bottom of the airlock as quickly as possible.

Tank asks, "what kind of…? Ohh." He notices fluctuations on the Matrix code being detected by the Nebuchadnezzar's computers, even though Neo and Tara are mostly fine physically. Tank suggests, "can you clear it up?"

Naimah sighs a little as she presses a sequence of buttons on the control pad nearest her, "nothing…but it's nothing wrong with Neo and Tara's Matrix coding."

Morpheus swims out of the airlock, towards the unconscious sinking Chavez. He grabs Chavez's physical body. Machines fire upon him and the Nebuchadnezzar, but Morpheus barely swims around them. Soon enough, the Machines get close enough to attack Morpheus with their claws.

At the same time, inside the Nebuchadnezzar…

The Nebuchadnezzar rocks from the laser fire's impact. Little holes are pierced into the hull as water starts rushing in. Trinity suggests, "Herold! Why don't you…?" Tank gets to work on repairing the hull manually.

Herold warns Trinity, "if I fire at them now, I risk hitting Morpheus."

At the same time, outside the Nebuchadnezzar…

Morpheus spins around and weaves past claw attack after claw attack, heading back for the Nebuchadnezzar. One of the Machines though manages to hit Morpheus in the shoulder, causing blood to spew out. Morpheus tears off some of Chavez's shirt to wrap around his shoulder with his free arm and his teeth.

At the same time, while Morpheus is busy with the Machines…

Tank realizes, "so the Matrix itself is fluctuating? That's good and bad all at once. Let me try." He presses a longer sequence of buttons on the same control pad. Tank points out, "you forgot to enter two certain words in the focusing sequence."

Naimah realizes somewhat disappointed, "Steipler Gaon? I thought it was three words."

Tank points out impressed, "you are learning."

Naimah adds a little embarrassed, "thanks…I guess."

Tank assures her, "don't worry about it. You wouldn't believe the mistakes I made the first time I came onboard."

Naimah chuckles a little at that thought as Neo and Tara awaken in physicality. The brain plugs retract, with help from Naimah's physical input with her fingers on control pad buttons.

At the same time, while Tank and Naimah are talking…

Morpheus holds back a painful groan, as the many eyes of the Machines behind him are blasted to pieces by the lasers mounted on the Nebuchadnezzar. The three Machines nearby explode in a chain reaction as Morpheus brings Chavez's body into the airlock, where Chavez is breathing hard and deeply. Morpheus mutters with partial relief, "that's it. Just breathe."

Herold shouts with mixed relief, "finally!" Neo and Tara get out of the metal chairs in front of the brain plugs.

Tara wonders, "what did we miss?"

Naimah comments, "just some fluctuations in the Matrix." Tara glances at Neo.

Neo figures a little shaken, "no wonder the journey back felt so long."

Morpheus figures, "you don't know the half of it. Our new recruit was miles away from us…but he's still alive. Trinity, get us out of here!" He lays Chavez's body on a gray medical bed nearby.

Trinity confirms, "got it."

Tara checks, "is he going to be…?" Naimah is already getting out a medical kit from a mechanical compartment built into the Nebuchadnezzar's hull.

Trinity checks as she tightly steers the Nebuchadnezzar out of range of the incoming Machines' sensors, "everyone all right?"

Morpheus groans a little as the neural shock of the injury kicks in, "it's nothing."

Neo points out, "I know you better than that. It's serious."

Naimah points out with a little pale brown inhaler like vacuum tube device in hand, "I already vacuumed out the water from our guest's system. He'll be fine."

Tara sighs a little, "good. Let me know when he wakes up." She heads to her bunker in the back to rest for a little while.

Morpheus sighs a little, "fine." He sits down on one of the metallic seats nearby, waiting patiently as Naimah examines his reddish shoulder.

Naimah points out, "I can barely make it out, but it looks like a bone was pierced in the process. I'll have to add hormone drops to the wound to help it mend. It may hurt for a few minutes." She gets out an black eye dropper like device filled with yellowish green liquid, using it to drop drops worth of hormones into the wound.

Morpheus assures her, "I can…handle it." He holds back a cry of pain as the extra hormones go into the bloodstream to produce more anti-bodies and more cells to help Morpheus's body heal faster than a typical human body would.

Neo assures him, "in a matter of days, you'll be fine."

Naimah concludes, "what he said."

Morpheus adds, "right. I should stick to giving orders for now."

Herold sighs a little, "I don't know about you, but I could go for some target practice."

Naimah figures, "I'll have it set up for you." She starts getting to work on the controls for the Nebuchadnezzar's own pocket version of the Matrix.

Morpheus adds, "you should. I almost just got killed, damn it!"

Herold tries to explain, "I couldn't risk firing at you! I…couldn't."

Morpheus mutters, "then why didn't you hit them sooner?" And with that, he walks to his bunker to rest. Naimah pretends not to have heard the argument as she keeps pressing buttons.

Neo tries to assure Herold, "it's ok. Are you…?" He turns to Naimah as he asks the question.

Naimah pretends, "yeah."

Neo figures, "good."

Herold sighs, "he's just…"

Trinity points out, "hard. I know…but you should be used to it by now."

Herold figures with a faint chuckle, "true that. True that."


	3. Chapter 3: Strings of Lights

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 3:

An hour or so later, in the Nebuchadnezzar's pocket Matrix…

Up above is a starry black sky. Down below is a cornfield twice as tall as a typical human. Neo and Chavez are amongst the pale yellow corn husks. Exposed green Matrix code is exposed around Chavez's now pale blue shirt covered upper body as well as his ripped black dress pants in a double sized aura like glow. Chavez remarks, "I guess anything's possible in the Afterlife."

Neo points out, "Chavez, this isn't the Afterlife. This isn't a game either."

Chavez sighs, "then what is this? A holodeck?"

Neo figures with a small chuckle, "perhaps. The Matrix and a holodeck can be classified as part of a form: Of reality itself."

Chavez concludes, "but it's not the whole picture…is it?"

Neo figures, "no. The programs after us rebels are Agents…ones who think that the Machines are the whole picture. The Matrix is one big computer program that most of humanity is enslaved to without realizing it…because humanity is used to modern life and the Matrix replicates that."

Chavez wonders, "in what way is humanity enslaved then…if they mostly choose to accept the Matrix?"

Neo sighs, "because even in the year 2199, humanity is still enslaved to its own ignorance and ambitions. This allows the Machines to use our bioelectrical brain chemistry as computational power…as we've discovered in recent weeks. A splinter group of humanity, including us, is mostly gathered around Zion…the last free human city. Those who aren't are in fighter ships like the Nebuchadnezzar…fighting for freedom from ignorance and ambitions of the past."

Chavez realizes, "so in a way, the Matrix is dooming us to repeat history…thereby weakening our sanity and principles."

Neo figures, "exactly. Are you ready?"

Chavez checks uneasily, "ready for what?" Neo puts up his fists, ready to strike.

Neo reveals, "to see what you're capable of."

Chavez concludes, "where I come from, this is tradition. But…are you sure you're part of this resistance? How can I be sure you're not Agents?" He puts up his fists, ready to strike.

Neo suggests, "some things, you just know. Some things, you have to think about before knowing them." He swing punches Chavez from below, but Chavez catches his fist and swings him through a bunch of corn husks with help from his other hand. Neo spin kicks off of Chavez at the same time, knocking Chavez against the ground.

Chavez coughs a little, "I just…know you won't kill me outright. Even if you weren't going to kill me." He gets up by himself, then tumbles out of the way of a flying punch from Neo.

Neo suggests, "you just have to trust me. If not my words…then through my actions." Chavez kicks upward from the floor with both feet, knocking Neo into a tumble. Neo tumbles back to his feet, but not before Chavez tries to punch him from behind several times in a row. Neo dodges each one.

Chavez remarks, "your actions speak of present honor…or future treachery. How do you know right from wrong, Neo?" Neo rams his elbow at Chavez right after dodging the punches, but Chavez leans back in a upward crouch with his hands touching the ground. He kicks Neo with one of his legs, knocking Neo off balance and against the ground with a unexpected thud.

Neo points out, "some things, you just know." He offers a hand to Chavez. Chavez gets up and walks over to Neo to help him up.

Chavez chuckles a little, "you remind me of my wife Glenda. Mysterious, yet good natured."

Neo figures, "sounds like a good start."

Chavez sighs, "but if this isn't the Afterlife…then I want Glenda to join me in the fight for liberty."

Neo wonders, "where were you in the Matrix?"

Chavez tries to remember, "it used to be…so simple. We'd fight for our survival among ourselves…struggling to find food after the Great Earthquake."

Neo checks a little shaken, "what happened?"

Chavez concludes solemnly, "this Matrix: It's been killing humans for who knows how long. Since I have no actual reason to not trust you and your words, I…saw the code there too."

Neo tries to point out with noticeable concern, "the Matrix doesn't kill…not without a reason. And there's no Great Earthquake in the Matrix: At least, not that we know of."

Chavez sighs, "then…it must be another part of the Matrix. One that hasn't been seen by your eyes. The point is…I've seen the code with my own eyes, and the mass murders in the same place."

Neo sighs, "I still don't think the Matrix would do so without a reason...but if there are people that need our help…"

Chavez concludes firmly, "there are."

Neo assures him, "I'll talk to Morpheus."

Chavez adds, "thank you."

Neo suggests, "by the way… Not bad. Your technique needs some work, but not bad for a first time."

Chavez chuckles a little at those words.

Neo suggests, "repeat after me: There is no corn."

Chavez chuckles, "you sure that works?"

Neo hints, "once you know that…and not just learn it…there's no limit to what you can do in the Matrix. I know it sounds a little silly, but you'll know what I mean when the time comes."

Chavez says a little rushed, "there is no corn."

Neo figures, "like I said…when the time comes."

Chavez wonders, "is that it?"

Neo adds, "for now. Meet me back here in an hour…and then the real training begins. It's not as scary as it sounds."

Chavez checks, "really?"

Neo answers, "really. It's just a matter of faith in yourself."

At the same time, back on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Naimah is watching over the brain plugged Chavez and Neo. Tara is at the wheel. Tank and Herold are in the engine room, manually working on repairs and modifications to their lasers with an old fashioned gray toolkit with typical plumbing and electrical tools. Herold mutters, "so the lasers take five or so minutes to recharge."

Tank realizes with a sigh, "you couldn't keep firing at the Machines that quickly…even if you wanted to. I thought salvaging this piece of crap was worth it too."

Herold concludes determinedly, "it still is. All we need to do is keep it up."

Tank points out, "least you can tell Morpheus that you weren't at fault."

Herold chuckles a little, finding comfort in that.

Morpheus, coming around the corner, asks, "how is the refitting?"

Herold points out, "there's good news and bad news."

Morpheus checks, "bad news makes good news worse. What is the bad news?"

Tank points out, "it takes about five minutes for the lasers to recharge."

Morpheus adds, "and the good news?"

Herold eagerly says, "that it wasn't my fault after all. Isn't that a relief?"

Morpheus mutters coldly, "it's a start. See if you can decrease the charging rate to three minutes."

Tank adds, "yes, sir." Morpheus heads to the cockpit without another word. Tank turns to Herold uneasily, "Herold…"

Herold asks, "what?!"

Tank urges, "I don't think you need to prove anything to Morpheus. He was just…mad."

Herold insists, "with all due respect Tank…you're wrong. I should have realized that Machine lasers wouldn't charge as well with our weapon systems. The Machines use more power than the Nebuchadnezzar. How could I have…?!"

Tank points out, "we're only human, Herold. We're only human. Now how about those extra wires?" Herold hands him some somewhat long blue and red wires from the toolkit.

Not long after Morpheus heads into the cockpit…

Morpheus checks, "status?"

Tara sighs, "nothing but water as far as the eye can see. If I didn't know any better from the sensors, I'd say we took a wrong turn somewhere."

Morpheus muses, "a blessing in disguise."

Tara figures, "I suppose. I just can't wait to fight more Agents."

Morpheus adds, "you and me both." He heads back to his bunker. Trinity heads for the center of the ship, and passes Morpheus on the way.

Trinity checks, "how's the shoulder?"

Morpheus insists, "it's fine…but thanks." Trinity puts a sympathetic hand on Morpheus's uninjured shoulder. Morpheus continues heading back to his bunker. Trinity comes to the center of the ship, where Neo and Chavez are brain plugged into the pocket Matrix.

Trinity checks with Naimah, "how are they?"

Naimah concludes, "they're good. I admit though…I'm still a little rattled from what happened earlier."

Trinity sighs a little, "don't worry about it. There isn't a mutiny...yet."

Naimah turns to her worriedly, "yet?!"

Trinity assures her, "just kidding. You can relax."

Naimah sighs with relief.

Soon after, Neo tells them over comlink, "we're done for now. You can bring us back." Naimah presses a long sequence of buttons to clear up the Matrix code, then does another long sequence of buttons to disconnect Neo and Chavez's brain plugs from their heads.

Neo points out, "I have to talk to Morpheus. It could be urgent."

Naimah points out, "he just went back to his bunker."

Neo figures as he gets up, "thanks."

Trinity checks, "then we'll go on that date we programmed up weeks ago?"

Neo adds, "yeah. I'll see you soon." He heads to the bunkers. Chavez's stomach growls at him.

Chavez asks, "got anything to eat? I'm starving."

Naimah sighs a little, "only dirt pudding."

Trinity chuckles a little, "close…but it's actually good for you. It's not really made of dirt."

Chavez checks, "food rations, I assume?"

Trinity concludes, "right. We have plenty. I'll get you caught up." She heads to the bunkers to get some white semi-transparent gelatinous liquid for Chavez to eat.

Chavez adds right before she heads to the bunkers, "thanks. I take what I can get."

Fifteen minutes later…

Neo is standing next to Morpheus in front of a bunker bed. He says, "I know you're thinking I'm crazy…"

Morpheus mutters, "damn right! No one could have survived the first generation of the Matrix."

Neo points out, "then why is the Matrix still running on humanity's processing power? There has to be survivors."

Morpheus sighs, "you're right…and wrong. There were survivors…but in very bad shape. Most people would rather be enslaved with benefits than outright die."

Neo points out, "what if some weren't disillusioned? What then?"

Morpheus insists, "I know you care for Chavez…but caring too much is going to get us all killed."

Neo urges, "what if we checked with Zion?"

Morpheus argues, "if we do that, the Machines will be on top of us before we can even call to the powers that be."

Neo sighs a little, "right. They'll jam us."

Morpheus remarks, "have you eaten your lotus fruit yet?"

Neo mutters coldly, "that's not funny."

Morpheus points out coldly, "I'm always serious."

Neo figures, "even if they're along the way?"

Morpheus concludes, "once we get to Zion, the Nebuchadnezzar will be big enough. Right now, we have no more room…and we're only days away to check on Zion's people. Even if what you say is true, Chavez's people can wait another week."

Neo objects, "but sir!"

Morpheus points out, "you may be the One, but I'm still the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar. And I say there will be no investigations into this until we get to Zion. Is that clear?!"

Neo sighs, "perfectly." Neo leaves the bunker, trying hard to hold back his anger as he heads back to the center of the Nebuchadnezzar.

Morpheus mutters to himself with mixed feelings, "nothing's perfect…but this is far from it." He sighs as he climbs up to the top bunk to lie down and sleep for several hours, hoping this would pass.


	4. Chapter 4: To be Alive

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 4:

Not long after everyone is done eating, in the Nebuchadnezzar's pocket Matrix…

Trinity and Neo are sitting on the edge of the flat grey rooftop of an apartment building characteristic of the Matrix's endless metropolis, with a locked door leading to stairs coming out of the same roof. Around the apartment though is a starry sky overlooking a light brown dock a distance away, reflective of the time of day and mood. Trinity points out, "you're awfully quiet tonight."

Neo sighs, "just…thinking."

Trinity points out, "even one doubt makes you vulnerable to the Matrix. You should tell someone about it."

Neo cryptically replies, "I'm not sure if I should. Maybe it's nothing…maybe it's something." Trinity puts a hand on Neo's hand.

She suggests, "it's about Chavez, isn't it?"

Neo concludes, "yeah. And I guess it's something more than a feeling…if more than one person feels the same thing."

Trinity checks, "what is it, Neo?"

Neo concludes, "I don't know how the crew will take this. I don't know how you would take it."

Trinity offers, "try me. I can't think of anything worse than being trapped in the Matrix."

Neo reveals with a sigh, "I can. Being away from someone you love…who is still in the Matrix."

Trinity realizes, "that is worse. And just when we're two days away from Zion."

Neo explains, "that's not the worse of it. If Chavez is right, there's a whole other human splinter group that is becoming extinct at the hands of the Matrix."

Trinity chuckles a little, "sorry…but that is very hard to believe."

Neo sighs again, "Morpheus thinks so too. Our course to Zion hasn't changed."

Trinity urges, "and you want to help. But the Matrix doesn't kill without a reason, Neo!"

Neo adds, "I know. But Chavez's code doesn't indicate that he's lying."

Trinity concludes, "do you really believe Chavez?"

Neo points out, "right now, I'm not so sure who to believe." He is lying, but Trinity isn't closely looking at his code and doesn't realize it.

Trinity points out, "just don't do something you'll regret. Morpheus is doing this for the greater good…for all of us. Where would you even start looking?"

Neo admits, "I haven't thought of that."

Trinity tries to assure him, "then have faith in us…in Morpheus. We'll do what we can for Chavez."

In partial relief, Neo says, "thanks."

Trinity adds, "you're welcome." Then, Neo and Trinity kiss passionately in the night. It seems to be hours to them, but it lasts several minutes.

At the same time, on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Tara, who is still steering the Nebuchadnezzar, sees nothing but water and many underwater beacon signals making up a grid like formation. She also notices a message over her control panel. It says, "come alone at 0430 hours. I have something that will interest you." Tara keeps that in mind as the message goes away seconds later. She figures, "how thoughtful for someone to think of me."

Tank nearby turns to her, "sorry?"

Tara sighs a little, "nothing. Just wondering where the hell are we."

Tank points out with a small chuckle, "that is the Zion security grid...built almost a century ago by the Ancients."

Tara realizes uneasily, "this far out from Zion, huh?"

Tank concludes, "yep. It's pretty impressive. Made out of salvaged Machines of the twenty first century by the first freedom fighters."

Tara asks, "the Machines have upgraded themselves a lot since then?"

Tank sighs a little, "unfortunately. It took thirty years to rebuild and secure Zion from the ground up."

Tara mutters under her breath, "yikes!"

Tank points out, "not this time. Herold and I are making good progress on the lasers."

Tara wonders, "then why aren't you…?"

Tank points out, "programming weapons isn't exactly my strong suit." He heads to his bunker, leaving Tara to wonder who could have sent the mysterious message to her.

She chuckles a little soon after, guessing who would send a secret message to her.

A half hour earlier, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Brando and the other two members of Chavez's party are sitting around a campfire, made out of old fashioned table leg kindling and a matchbox. The first unnamed member has long blue hair, while the second unnamed member has short dark green highlighted blond hair. Around all three of them are pieces of cracked whitish marble balconies, with little pillars acting now as weak disoriented fences that don't match up. Brando sighs, "I still miss him."

The second unnamed member urges with a small sigh, "it's time to move on, Brando. The tribe of Zeus has lost many people to the earthquakes."

Brando sighs, "it's more than that this time, Destiny."

Destiny urges, "just because you have a thing for him?"

The first unnamed member insists, "that's enough, Destiny."

Destiny insists, "no, Glenda. This insult will not stand any longer!" Suddenly, the pillars start collapsing in the wake of a military grenade's explosive impact.

Glenda urges over the explosion, "now's not the time!" Destiny, Brando, and Glenda take out their pistols as they get up and run from the then crushed campfire. Fire and smoke spread across the dirt as though it was gunpowder.

Brando calls out, "fire!"

Destiny remarks between coughing, "for once…we agree…on something!" Shots are heard across the battlefield. Six figures in torn clothing with bazookas in hand fire rocket missiles at Brando, Destiny, and Glenda. However, thanks to Destiny and Brando, three of the figures and most of the missiles go down one by one as the two groups get closer within range. Fire takes out the other missiles.

Glenda urges, "less talking, more shooting!"

An authoritative voice calls out, "switch to hand guns!" The remaining three unnamed warriors switch to pistols, and start firing at Destiny, Glenda, and Brando. Glenda kicks some flaming rocks at the charging warriors, making them explode in front of her attackers. Brando punches one of them in the gut, but not before his attacker punches him in the chest.

Brando coughs uneasily as he slowly gets up. A cave in comes down towards all six of the remaining warriors and puts out the fire. But, they all run out of range quick enough as the fallout dust gathers into a dust cloud behind them.

Destiny, Glenda, and Brando keep running from their attackers. Glenda is tackled by one of the attackers, but she kicks him against a second attacker's body to buy her and her companions some time. Another cave in separates the two parties, much to the leader of the unnamed attackers' frustration. They barely escape a third cave in over their heads by tumbling once more.

The authoritative voice among the attackers with silver dyed medium hair mutters, "damn it! You will try harder next time…won't you now?" He glares at his two remaining warriors.

One of them mutters coldly, "yes, Daman."

Ninety minutes or so later…

Neo and Trinity have been disconnected from the pocket Matrix, with help from Naimah. Trinity and Naimah head to their bunkers to get some sleep, while Herold, Tara, Neo, and Tank stay awake to cover the first night shift. Neo checks on Tara, "anything on sensors?"

Tara points out with a little chuckle, "nothing but a very big Zion security grid."

Neo suggests, "this might be a good time for some training. Tank, can you cover for Tara?"

Tank assures him, "sure, Neo." Tara gets out of the right front seat to let Tank take the wheel. Neo returns to Chavez.

He suggests, "since you're already in advanced combat training, I decided to take it to the next level." Minutes later, Tara joins them.

She suggests, "ready for me?"

Neo pushes, "now, don't you start. He's taken, you know."

Herold suggests, "I'm not." He is at the controls for the pocket Matrix, waiting for them.

Tara mutters, "shut up, Herold."

Herold chuckles a little, "touchy. I like that."

Neo mutters, "just get us plugged in."

Herold sighs a little, "do you have to ruin my fun?"

Tara taunts, "always got to be a kick in the...?"

Neo insists as he gets into one of the center chairs, "that's enough! All right?"

Tara mutters uneasily as she joins Neo, "but he started it!"

Neo urges, "doesn't matter…except that this is the last time that you do that, Herold."

Herold wonders, trying to act innocent, "do what?"

Neo mutters coldly, "you know what I mean. If you don't stop this taunting, you won't be able to do night shifts for a long while."

Herold sighs a little, "very well."

Chavez wonders soon after he gets into one of the center chairs, "is it always like this?"

Neo remarks, "not anymore, if Herold knows what's good for him."

Soon after Neo, Tara, and Chavez are linked to the Matrix, Chavez mutters to himself lowly, "dick."

In the Nebuchadnezzar's pocket Matrix…

Neo, Tara, and Chavez are back in the cornfield. Neo turns off his comlink, motioning with his hands for Tara to turn off her comlink. Tara nods and turns hers off without a second thought. Chavez wonders, "what the hell is going on here, Neo?!"

Neo reveals, "we're rescuing Glenda."

Tara chuckles, "we're going against Morpheus's orders? I like it already."

Chavez checks, "but…how?"

Neo figures, "I've been thinking about it. There's only one person I can think of that can help us: The Oracle. But, it'll be tricky."

Tara checks, "what's the plan?"

Neo suggests, "you'll receive a message about it fifteen minutes after this training session…and you tell Chavez about it in the morning."

Chavez says, "bless you, Neo." Neo nods as he turns back on his comlink. Tara also turns back on her comlink.

Herold checks, "I've been trying to reach you for three minutes. Come in, please."

Tara figures, "keep your pants on. You cleared the problem with the Matrix code."

Herold says a little confused, "thanks…I guess."

Neo suggests, "let's go back to training."


	5. Chapter 5: Into full Throttle

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 5:

On the next day, around 0430 hours…

Tara gets up from her bunker and sneaks past Neo, heading to the center of the Nebuchadnezzar. Tara had turned off her comlink on the way. But, to her interest, she catches another message. This time, on the pocket Matrix brain plug controls. Tara sees the words, "sit down. The programming will take care of the rest." Tara sighs to herself lowly, "very well. I just hope it's not bent on genocide." She sits down and lets the brain plug automatically take over her sensory input.

In the pocket Matrix…

Tara finds herself surrounded by green walls of light emitted from human sized computer screens, making a control center like feel. Right in front of her is Naimah, dressed up with a red dress gown and looking more like an adult. Tara chuckles a little, "all this for a girl to girl talk?"

Naimah concludes, "this is a preprogrammed version of Naimah, here to unlock a message programmed for your ears only. And only when you're the only one plugged into the Matrix." Tara examines the code around Naimah, but sees no signs of deception.

Tara concludes, "well, I'm impressed. This must have taken months to make."

The Naimah program reveals, "I am not programmed to respond to that statement. I am only programmed to unlock a message programmed for…"

Tara sighs a little, "I get the idea, ok?! Just tell me the message then."

The Naimah program explains to a taken aback Tara, "will you see the real Naimah in here with more romantic intentions, or not?"

Tara urges uneasily, "I'm very flattered, but… Wait." She pauses, thinking to herself for a brief time. Tara figures, "I knew whoever sent that message had better programming abilities than me…but I expected it to be one of Herold's ways of trying to get to me that I can use against him."

The Naimah program repeats, "I am not programmed to…"

Tara mutters, "yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess…" After a few minutes, Tara suggests with a sigh, "can you give Naimah a message for me?"

The Naimah program figures, "I am capable of delivering a message to the real Naimah."

Tara figures, "least we're getting somewhere."

The Naimah program checks, "should I prepare that message for Naimah only?"

Tara mutters a little annoyed, "no. I'm going to tell you the real message."

The Naimah program suggests, "proceed."

Tara deviously figures, "yes, on one condition: You let Neo, Chavez, and me get plugged in at 0600 hours with no questions asked."

The Naimah program responds, "message prepared." The program gets surrounded by bright white light.

Back in physicality…

The brain plug in Tara's head retracts automatically, and Tara checks to see if the coast is clear while getting back up. She sneaks back to her bunker, and uneasily starts to go to sleep again. Tara mutters to herself as she does so, "how am I going to explain this to Neo without embarrassing myself?"

At 0600 hours, ninety minutes later…

Neo, Chavez, and Tara have gotten up a little earlier than most of the crew was expecting. And Naimah is waiting for them, trying hard to hide her personal joy. Only Tank and Herold are up on the Nebuchadnezzar. Neo turns a little confused to Tara, but Tara just gives him a look of strong certainty to signal to him that they could still go through with their plan.

Seconds afterwards…

Before Tank and Herold can react, Tara and Neo sneak up on them to knock them out. It's swift and mostly painless on both ends, just like they practiced in the pocket Matrix. Chavez urges, "hurry!" He is already plugged into the pocket Matrix within seconds. Neo and Tara hurry to the center of the Nebuchadnezzar to get plugged into the pocket Matrix. Naimah helps them do so. She hears footsteps, and hides in the engine room beside Herold's unconscious body. Naimah sees a message forming across the screen of the navigational control pad, and hurriedly rushes for it.

She mutters to herself uneasily and lowly, "now what?!" The message says, "reroute control to us…for Chavez's people." Naimah realizes what this means. She sighs close to tears, "all right. I'll go that far." Naimah quickly goes up to the directional control pad where Tank fell unconscious. She hacks into it easily, programming a connection between directional control and the brain plugs onboard. Naimah then crouches down beside Tank, checking his pulse. Above her is Morpheus, who worriedly ran to the cockpit when he heard something had happened.

Morpheus checks, "what the hell is all this?!" He had noticed Tank unconscious, and Naimah in worried tears. Morpheus checks, "how you holding up?"

Naimah just cries, not daring to say another word to Morpheus about what just happened.

Morpheus sighs, "Trinity…you better get up here."

Trinity adds, "and you better get down here. Control has been rerouted to… It can't be." She holds back an urge to break something, realizing who did this. Morpheus comes to the center of the Nebuchadnezzar, looking over Trinity's shoulder.

Morpheus realizes uneasily, "it's…Neo's code. I didn't know he would actually be foolish enough to try something like this. After you see what you can do about Naimah, you're plugging yourself into the Matrix to go after them."

Trinity asks, "without backup, Morpheus?"

Morpheus points out, "even if I could, there are only four plugs."

Trinity hints, "I'll be ready to be plugged in soon."

Morpheus adds, "good." Trinity heads up to comfort the heartbroken Naimah.

Trinity tries to assure Naimah in her arms, "it's ok. It's ok. We'll get them back."

An hour or so later, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Glenda, Brando with short orange dyed hair, and Destiny are waking up from a long night around another campfire made of marble pillar rubble. Destiny remarks, "I could sure use some lightning bolts."

Glenda urges, "you're full of shit."

Destiny chuckles a little, "good morning to you too. At least, it's morning to me."

Brando suggests, "we should probably look for supplies…before that rival tribe comes back."

Destiny figures, "way ahead of you. This way leads to a cabinet…and I can smell food."

Glenda mutters, "not only that…but I can barely talk. I feel thirsty."

Brando sighs, "it's been weeks since we had water…yet I don't hear a single drop or splash. Might as well take what we can get."

Destiny muses, "good things come to those who deserve it. I imagine we will have better luck in the near future." She leads Glenda and Brando to the cabinet she was talking about, but the only thing that hasn't spoiled yet is several apples. Around them is broken kitchen furniture and scattered eating utensils. All three of them greedily and hurriedly eat all the apples without a second thought.

After Brando and his companions finish eating…

Brando chuckles a little, "you came up with that on your own, did you?"

Destiny figures, "perhaps." They hear a voice, echoing across a seemingly tossed over and split green tiled kitchen floor. It's the voice of the Oracle.

She echoes prophetically, "one of you will die for the One. The Matrix will save all but the darkness. One of you will die for the One. The Matrix will save all but the darkness." The voice fades away.

Glenda turns to her companions, "did I just…?"

Destiny assures her, "you're not the only one."

Brando checks, "who was that anyway?"

Glenda shrugs it off, "who cares? Right now, we…" They then hear footsteps, in the midst of fighting nearby.

Brando sighs, "I'll check it out." He crawls under a sideways brown wardrobe to see two tribes of people fighting each other with pistols. Brando recognizes the other tribe immediately. Before he can react, the wardrobe gives way, sending Brando smashing against Daman below. He gets knocked out by the surprise attack, and the other two figures alongside him run off with Daman over their shoulders.

A woman with long black hair and silver highlights calls out, "fire!"

Shots from pistols are fired, but they miss over the falling flat wardrobe. Brando calls out to the unnamed tribe, "I'm not armed! Don't shoot!" He gets out from under the wardrobe as he says this.

The woman with long black hair with silver highlights calls back, "then tell your other tribe members to stand down!" Brando nods to a reluctant Destiny and a reluctant Glenda, who put their pistols down from above and put their hands up along with Brando.

Glenda mutters coldly, "we are your prisoners."

The woman leader of the unnamed tribe suggests surprisingly warmly, "who said anything about prisoners?"


	6. Chapter 6: Through the Blue

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 6:

A half hour later, in the pocket Matrix on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Trinity is walking around a forest with green tall round topped trees as big as five typical people on top of each other, when she notices Chavez sitting in front of one of these trees. The sun is shining above it all. Chavez muses with a little chuckle, "guess nature intended for me to be the mortal that became a demi-god."

Trinity insists, "you're no demi-god. You're the mortal who is coming back with us…along with Neo and Tara." Chavez gets up.

He remarks, "like Circe…you'd do anything to get your way."

Trinity mutters coldly with a pistol aimed at Chavez, "I'm nothing like Circe. I could kill you here…but I won't. One way or another though…you're coming with me." She just as quickly puts the pistol away, and puts up her fists.

Chavez points out, "actually…I'm just stalling." Trinity intensely looks at the scene around her, realizing uneasily what the Matrix code in here meant. Neo and Tara come out of hiding, coming through a pocket breach of the pocket Matrix so that they can tackle Trinity against the dirt ground.

Trinity realizes, "you found a way to suppress the code exposure." She uses her arms to knock Neo and Tara's heads together, dazing them long enough to jump kick off of both of their bodies and prepare for a aerial kick in frozen time.

Neo calls out, "Tara…go!"

Tara mutters, "but…!"

Neo insists, "no time!" Neo pushes Tara out of range of the aerial kick as he says this. Neo gets knocked into a tumble by Trinity's midair kick. Tara gets up and motions with one hand for Chavez to follow her. Chavez follows Tara deeper into the forest, to the right of a nearby tree. Neo, in frozen time, gets to his feet and starts running to the left of the same nearby tree that Tara passed.

Trinity urges, "what happened to trust, Neo?!" She heads for the other direction, so Neo circles back to try to stop her.

Neo remarks, "what happened to having faith in the One?" He punches Trinity in her backside, knocking her over despite a spin kick against Neo's chest. Both though spin back to their feet, a little bruised.

Trinity mutters, "guess I was wrong to." She gives Neo a flurry of punches, but Neo grabs one of her arms and hurls her against a nearby tree trunk. Trinity in frozen time kicks off of the tree, landing on her feet soon after spin kicking Neo off his feet. Neo feels hurt by Trinity's words, but he is only focusing on the code around Trinity and the mission he set out to do. Trinity feels hurt too, but she isn't letting that get in the way of stopping Neo.

Neo starts coughing a little, clutching his side reactively. Trinity and Neo pause. Both Trinity and Neo are a little out of breath at having just fought each other.

Trinity sighs, "this is getting ridiculous, Neo. Why can't things go back to normal?"

Neo argues, "why wouldn't you care for a forgotten people?! I thought you were better than that."

The Oracle's voice suddenly calls out, "enough!" The Oracle then appears between Neo and Trinity in a flash of green light, looking understandably upset at what had just happened as if she knew it did happen. Tara and Chavez head back towards the voice of the Oracle, expecting the Oracle to not be near Neo and Trinity. They were surprised when it turned out to not be the case.

Neo realizes a little taken aback, "Oracle, I…"

The Oracle points out uneasily, "you two are destined to be together…yet here I am, having to stand between you like a concerned parent."

Trinity sighs, "great. Just great! More One propaganda."

The Oracle sighs, "have I been wrong before? I know I haven't." Stunned silence from Trinity, Neo, Tara, and Chavez follows. The Oracle suggests, "I see that you wanted to see me, the One?"

Neo concludes, "yes. It's about Chavez's people."

The Oracle concludes, "it's closer than you think, the One. How do you think I got here?"

Chavez realizes, "are you saying that we didn't even need to take over the ship?!"

Trinity chuckles a little with partial relief, "best thing I heard this morning."

The Oracle muses, "sometimes what you're looking for is right in front of you. But sometimes, you have to see it to truly believe."

Tara urges a little annoyed, "okay, miss all knowing…how?"

The Oracle reveals, "not everything is one way or another. Sometimes, there's a third option…and a third code guiding that option."

Tara realizes, "literally?"

The Oracle concludes, "exactly. Not everything is one way or another."

Trinity suggests, "but wouldn't the Matrix know that code?"

The Oracle insists, "the Matrix only knows two codes."

Neo wonders, "anything else?"

The Oracle adds, "one of you will die for the One. The Matrix will save all but the darkness. Meet me at 1^06-5^23-4^21-7^16-8^05-0^14 when all is saved, the One." And with that, the Oracle disappears into green light.

Neo chuckles a little embarrassed, "of course. Not everything is one way or another."

Tara turns to him, "what are you talking about?"

Neo sighs a little, "0 and 1 are binary numbers. But if you include the other digits in the code…"

Trinity mutters, "are you going to release the Nebuchadnezzar...or not?"

Neo sighs, "all right! I will."

Tara mutters, "great. All of this…for nothing!"

Trinity figures coldly, "then maybe next time, you'll listen." She glares at Neo, making him feel uncomfortable.

Chavez sighs a little, "it was a nice try, Neo."

Neo uneasily responds, "thanks."

In physicality…

The brain plugs retract from Neo, Tara, Trinity, and Chavez. They all get out of the center seats of the Nebuchadnezzar before a furious Morpheus. Tank is at the wheel, waiting patiently for directional control to be restored to the cockpit. He reports, "directional control…is back online." Herold is at the weapons control pad in the cockpit. Morpheus is standing over the control pad for the brain plugs.

He calls back, "good! Get us back on our original course to Zion."

Tank calls back, "yes, sir!"

Neo says lowly, "Morpheus, if I only…"

Morpheus turns to Neo, "Neo, Tara, Chavez…get your asses back to the bunkers before I have a good mind to drop you off at a Zion prison!" No one else dares to say anything to Morpheus to the contrary. Neo, Tara, and Chavez head uneasily to their bunkers. Tara mutters to herself on her bunker, "I won't hear the end of this."

Trinity suggests uneasily, "Morpheus…"

Morpheus mutters, "don't tell me you're siding with Neo on this now."

Trinity sighs a little, "no…but the Oracle came."

Morpheus wonders, "what did she…?"

Trinity points out, "you'll be happy to know that she agreed with you."

Morpheus checks, "then why are you doubtful?"

Trinity reveals, "she said about a third code. If the Oracle didn't teleport into our Matrix before my eyes, I wouldn't be having second thoughts about it."

Morpheus concludes, "actions speak louder than words."

Trinity concludes, "unfortunately."

Morpheus suggests, "does the Matrix know about…?"

Trinity chuckles a little, "no, if the Oracle is right."

Morpheus points out, "the Oracle is always right."

Trinity figures, "then we can reach a compromise."

Morpheus sighs a little, "yes. In a way…I was wrong too."

Trinity turns to him a little taken aback, "you…wrong?"

Morpheus points out, "despite our peak human efficiency, we're still only human. The greater good isn't always the best cause: Not when there could be another way." He heads to his bunker, leaving Trinity deep in thought as she returns to her bunker.

Ten minutes later, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Glenda, Brando, and Destiny are gathered around a set of ceiling lights still lit, ironically still lit because of it being part of the 1.0 Matrix. Next to them are the woman leader of the unnamed tribe and the two other members of that tribe. The other two unnamed people is a woman with shoulder length green dyed hair and a man with medium grayish brown hair. Brando checks with the woman leader, "so Eshana…why did you spare us?"

Eshana sighs a little, "there is such a thing as too much war."

Glenda concludes, "we can relate. Did it used to be like this though?"

Eshana uneasily concludes, "no. There are stories…past and present…that explain so much."

The man with medium grayish brown hair concludes, "we believe that all of this is some kind of test…that there is a higher power at work here."

Brando mutters, "no offense Raphael, but that's bullshit. If there was a higher power at work, why haven't they told us what they wanted from us?"

Eshana suggests, "maybe it's just a way to prove who's worthy and who's not. We are the tribe of Peyote…yet have beliefs in one god."

Destiny concludes, "perhaps…but now isn't the time to be thinking of such things. Survival is all that matters."

The woman with shoulder length green dyed hair points out uneasily, "before the Great Earthquake, it didn't used to be that way. There were emotions too…and even now there are emotions of courage and brotherly love among yourselves. Otherwise, you would not still be alive."

Destiny figures, "admittedly Nikita, you're onto something."

Glenda wonders, "umm…what was it like before the Great Earthquake? I get that there was a Great Earthquake, but…"

Brando suggests, "perhaps Eshana can explain it better."

Eshana figures, "gladly. Years ago, before the Great Earthquake…"


	7. Chapter 7: Above it All

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 7:

In the year 2049, 150 years ago…

Mansions of varying color and old fashioned castles of grey as far as someone observing the place can see stood out on many big green hills. Flashes of Matrix code bounced across the sunny afternoon sky.

Ten minutes later…

A fancy party with expensively dressed people in black and white and alcoholic drinks in very thinly stemmed glasses was held in a reddish blue mansion. Everyone was either talking about the weather or the news. One of the women with tied up golden hair suggests, "so, what do you think about people in black jackets falling from the sky?"

The man talking to her with short black hair chuckles, "just mere rumors to shake things up, Elvira. Nothing more."

Elvira muses, "still, it's fun to think about what could be when there's so much uncertainty around us. Isn't it, Roho?" Among the guests is an uninvited guest, and that uninvited guest was Tara. She has a hand on one of her pistols, ready to fire at the first sign of trouble. Tara ducks into a nearby blackish yellow wardrobe, closing the wardrobe silently behind her. For a few seconds, she stares at the Matrix code from within.

Tara muttered to her comlink, "the Agents have just entered the building."

Neo's voice over a number of comlinks replied, "Tara, Brando, Destiny…close in."

Tara concluded over comlink, "it's bad enough that I have to listen to small talk…but I expected Shamhuth to show up here and I don't see him."

Neo assured her over comlink, "we'll check out the sewers. Maybe the Agents plan to shut down the original Matrix from below."

Tara concluded with a sigh, "for all our sakes, I hope you're right." She made a breach in the Matrix code, allowing her to fall down towards the Agents below. Tara called out, "looking for me?!" She in frozen time spin kicked several Agents off their feet in midair and fired both of her pistols at the Agents behind them at the same time. This allowed a distraction while Brando and Destiny fired their pistols at the incoming Agents.

Brando called out, "eat lead, suckers!" The first wave of Agents went down easily into deletion, but a lot more waves came toward them.

Tara muttered, "shit! We can't hold them off much longer."

At the same time, in the sewers directly below them…

Neo, Trinity, Chavez, and Glenda were down in the surprisingly crystal clear water that filled the human sized pipes up to their ankles. Ticking echoed across the pipes, much to their unease. Neo turned to Chavez, "I'm getting echoes of code across this Matrix. We're going to need your special talent."

Glenda pointed out uneasily, "but what if the Agents…?"

Neo argued, "if we don't find that bomb in time, the cycle will start all over again. And no one wants that."

Glenda sighed a little, "right. Chavez?" Chavez let the Matrix code around them be exposed by himself.

Chavez concludes, "this way!" He helped the group run in the direction of the bomb by leading them to it.

Trinity said over comlink, "Naimah, we need a layout of the sewers…and the current location of the Agents."

Naimah assured them over comlink, "on it."

Eight minutes later…

As Chavez, Neo, Trinity, and Glenda come around to a left curve in the sewer system, Neo sees for a second a message hidden in the code that says, "don't sacrifice yo…sel…n!" Neo pointed out, "wait! Something's wrong."

Trinity checked, "what is, Neo?"

Neo sighed, "I think it was…from Morpheus. A hidden message." Trinity and Neo hurriedly catch up to Chavez and Glenda as they heard footsteps and shots echoing across the pipes.

Trinity suggested, "less talking, more running." They both come around the corner, noticing that the mentioned bomb had already gone off a long distance away. And indirectly, Chavez's code exposure ability ended up starting up the original Matrix's system crash and errors.

Chavez said lowly, "I'm sorry…Neo."

Neo said, "it's ok. Least we found it."

Glenda assured him, "it couldn't have happened any other way."

Chavez figured, "thanks, but now what? It's too late to…"

Trinity turned to Neo, "we can still take down the Matrix and save everyone."

Neo realized, "except whoever goes near the explosion to teleport it to the Matrix's motherboard…will never be seen again. And it can't be me."

One of the Agents urged, "this way!" They run out of the way of the explosion, calculating only the worst case scenario for their own preservation. They soon after vanish from the original Matrix and head back to the 2.0 Matrix, not realizing their fate.

Chavez turned to him, "what are you…?"

Neo pointed out, "a hidden message from Morpheus said not to sacrifice someone. And I think he meant me."

Glenda pointed out, "that sounds very complicated. Were you…?!"

Neo concluded, "that was what Morpheus and I planned. Only the both of us knew it…until now."

Glenda chuckled a little, "because of the prophecy."

Neo figured, "yeah. But obviously, it can't be done by me…especially now. Otherwise, Morpheus wouldn't send a time capsule."

Chavez asked, "then…what do we do?"

Neo figured, "It also requires two people to keep the explosion intact until it reaches the Matrix's motherboard."

Trinity concluded reluctantly, "then…I and Glenda should go. We all have a better chance of survival with two people."

Neo muttered, "but…!"

Trinity assured him, "with two people, we might get back with time to spare." She briefly kisses Neo.

Neo urged, "then good luck."

Chavez added, "you too." Glenda briefly hugged Chavez.

She added, "thanks."

Trinity muttered lowly to Neo, "like I need it." Glenda and Trinity ran into the explosion, taking it with them as they focus on the Matrix code of the bomb together. It disappeared from the sewers, much to the relief of Neo and Chavez.

Neo checked over comlink, "Tara, Destiny, Brando…come in."

Tara assured him, "we're good on this end. How is yours holding up?"

Chavez checked over comlink, "and Trinity and Glenda?"

Naimah responded uneasily over comlink, "I'm sorry, Neo…and Chavez."

Neo pointed out uneasily, "we stopped the bomb, but not without a price."

Tara uneasily responded near tears, "I heard. We're dropping Shamhuth off on Mania's doorstep before we head out."

Neo solemnly added, "good. We'll see if we can free the other end of the Matrix."

Tara added, "understood."

In the year 2209, 160 years later…

Morpheus and a grown up Naimah are walking down the very same sewers. Naimah reminds him, "Zion police will be here soon to stop us."

Morpheus sighs, "I know. But, we've come this far with Tank's Time Modem…and I'm damn sure I'm not about to stop now." He concentrates on the Matrix code.

Naimah checks over comlink, "how are we doing, Tank?"

On the Nebuchadnezzar…

A noticeably grayish haired Tank responds over comlink, "not so good! Our bulkhead shields are down." Despite several noticeable tablet like upgrades to the Nebuchadnezzar's screens for quicker response times in addition to a reddish black modem sitting next to the big white keyboard, the Nebuchadnezzar is exploding piece by piece because of a Zion police force of three ships just like the Nebuchadnezzar in physical design. Outside the Nebuchadnezzar are familiar sewer tubes big enough to hold many ships. Lasers from the police force go after the Nebuchadnezzar's lasers next.

Herold calls out to Tank, "then why don't you try operating these lasers for a change and see if you can do better?!"

Tank points out, "now is really not the time, Herold!" Naimah and Morpheus are plugged into their pocket Matrix.

Back in the Nebuchadnezzar's pocket Matrix…

Naimah points out, "we only have five minutes."

Morpheus insists, "because of my orders, we killed billions of people still plugged into the Matrix. I will not let humanity slowly die because of me!"

Naimah assures him firmly, "Morpheus. I'm just telling you how much time we have left to save humanity."

Morpheus adds with a sigh, "thanks. I only get two shots at this with the Time Modem." He adds some code back in time through the mentioned modem, and through the only part of the original Matrix that could be restored. It is a hidden message in a certain time index that says, "don't sacrifice yourself or anyone else, Neo!" Nothing different happens. Morpheus realizes, "it didn't work. Why?!"

Naimah suggests with a sigh, "maybe it should be shorter."

Back on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Several screens and bunkers explode in pieces and flames as the Nebuchadnezzar gets hit by more lasers from the Zion police force. Herold gets knocked out by an explosion from inside the engine room, falling to the floor.

A Zion police officer calls out over comlink, "surrender, or prepare to be boarded!"

Tank mutters, "that'll be the day." He maneuvers the Nebuchadnezzar around two of the Zion police ships, moving fast enough to get the same ships to take out their own lasers. The third Zion police ship comes around to extend a J tube shaped catwalk towards the Nebuchadnezzar's airlock. Tank reports over comlink, "one minute left! Make it count."

In the pocket Matrix on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Naimah checks, "we got one minute. Are you sure…?"

Morpheus assures her, "yes, but only if you help."

Naimah wonders, "then what's the message?"

Morpheus figures with a small chuckle, "simple. The message is…Run."


	8. Chapter 8: Keep Believing

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 8:

In the year 2199, ten years earlier…

Eshana concludes, "…and then the Great Earthquake came and swallowed our mansions whole."

Glenda sighs, "what I wouldn't give for more food, let alone a mansion."

Destiny adds, "you can say that again."

Nikita figures, "I'd rather you didn't."

Raphael turns to Eshana, "it's time."

Eshana figures, "thank you, Raphael. Do you know why we are called the tribe of Peyote?"

Brando sighs a little, "I have a feeling you're going to tell us anyway."

Eshana reveals, "we pray and eat from the Peyote, as our ancestors did. We have a garden around a hot springs…and so are done running. You're welcome to stay for as long as you'd like." Nikita takes out some small green cactus prickle-less plants out of a worn out sack, offering it for them to eat.

Destiny says, "you are most kind. Thank you."

Nikita assures her, "you're welcome." Everyone but a more weary Glenda eats from the Peyote plant.

Glenda suggests, "thanks, but I'm not hungry. I am however thirsty. Would you mind…?"

Eshana concludes, "Raphael knows where a stream of water is."

Glenda concludes with a chuckle, "perfect. I'm beginning to like it here."

Eshana chuckles a little, "good. To us, there's no such thing as too much company."

A half hour later, on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Neo and Tara are in their bunkers still, eating the white gelatinous liquid that is food rations for them uneasily. In the middle of eating, Morpheus appears before them. Morpheus concludes uneasily, "for what it's worth…I'm sorry." Tara finishes chewing.

She chuckles a little, "never thought I'd hear you say those words." Neo finishes chewing too.

He mutters, "so…that's it then? That you're sorry?"

Morpheus adds, "I get that you still think I'm an ass, but…"

Neo comments, "yes, you were."

Morpheus sighs a little, "then let's just all get down to business and put our personal feelings aside…for once." He walks off.

Tara checks, "did he just insult everyone…including himself?"

Neo darkly chuckles a little, "least he's consistent."

Tara sighs, "I don't know what to tell Naimah…or Tank, because we went rogue on our own crew. But maybe with Morpheus in a more reasonable mood…"

Neo wonders, "how did you get Naimah to do that for us anyway?"

Tara mutters, "let's just say I made a promise that I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to keep…and leave it at that. Ok?!"

Neo sighs, "ok! You don't want to talk about it. I get it. I just don't get why the crew has to be so emotional lately."

Tara remarks, "tough choices…tough love."

Neo comments rhetorically, "isn't that the truth? Isn't that the truth?"

Eleven minutes later…

Morpheus had called everyone over, except for Herold at the wheel. He calls out, "all right, everyone! Listen to me. I know we recently went through something that no crew should have to go through. But right now, I want you focused on our mission: To keep fighting the Matrix until we don't have to. Now, the Oracle has told us of a new way to travel across the Matrix…one that even the Matrix doesn't know."

Tara checks, "remind me again how that's possible?"

Morpheus chuckles a little, "it's probably one older than the Matrix itself for only the Oracle to know it."

Herold darkly chuckles a little, "how do we know an Agent isn't playing us for suckers?"

Morpheus points out, "the Oracle is older than the Matrix itself. I doubt that even the Matrix is capable of reprogramming her program."

Herold mutters, "forget I asked."

Tara figures, "noted." This is much to Herold's inner annoyance.

Morpheus continues, "now, the only clue we have as to where Chavez's friends are is Chavez himself." Everyone else but Herold turns to an taken aback Chavez.

Chavez uneasily says, "if I knew, you'd think I would have told Neo."

Neo adds, "but you did see the code just before you appeared in what we know as the Matrix."

Chavez sighs a little, "yes…but only bits and pieces. It happened so fast."

Trinity realizes, "and any of them can be pieced together in many combinations."

Neo suggests, "unless… Can we plug Chavez into his own memory?"

Morpheus suggests, "yes…but at great risk."

Chavez uneasily realizes, "great risk?"

Morpheus explains, "your brain could overload from the mental strain of reliving those memories."

Tank points out, "well, what else can we do?! Wait until we get to Zion? By then, we could be too late."

Chavez figures, "I'll do it."

Morpheus adds, "good man. Naimah, think you can plug him in?"

Naimah mutters coldly, "of course." She heads to the brain plug control pad while Chavez walks to one of the center chairs of the Nebuchadnezzar.

Morpheus sighs to himself, "one step at a time."

Not long after, in the pocket Matrix on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Chavez cries out in mental pain as many images, sounds, tastes, feels, and smells flood his senses like a tidal wave washing against him. Together, they form a swirling pattern made up of swirling patterns, making the optical illusion of one eye. His own voice echoes unnaturally from fears of the past, "you…and…Glenda…will…never…belong! You're…your…worst…nightmare! You…always…make…things…difficult!" Chavez holds back tears at this. Waves of shots, of grenades, and of fire come down upon him. Chavez runs between them, but gets hit in the side of the head by a shot.

In physicality…

Morpheus urges, "he's going into cardiac arrest!" Chavez's mouth is beginning to get redder, much to Naimah's disgust.

Naimah suggests, "I got it covered." She takes out another inhaler like tube device, but this one is red and has wires coming out of it. Naimah presses it against the area of the chest where Chavez's heart is under his shirt, and Chavez coughs up blood. But he is back to breathing, with a part of the side of his near shaven physical head getting redder.

Neo mutters, "come on, Chavez!"

At the same time, in the pocket Matrix of the Nebuchadnezzar…

He pushes himself, "there is no…corn." Chavez doesn't sound quite convinced though. It is too soon.

Chavez's own voice echoes back at him, "no…brain…either!" Chavez tumbles and runs past rockslides, spears, and lava flows from the past…all to get closer to the optical illusion of a creepily rotating eye.

Then, something happens. Chavez mutters, "there's only one way to do this. I must become that which I fear most!" He leaps head first towards the images of his past memories, ending up seeing every piece of his life flash before his eyes from the day he was born without seeing the sun to the day he accidentally left all he knew and loved because of the Matrix code. Chavez sees making love to Glenda, battles with other tribes with other belief systems altogether and those that don't, alliances and friendships that are mostly short lived, and all the hazards and rewards of living underground. Chavez sees flashes of Matrix code in between.

In physicality…

Chavez's body is going up and down, shaking violently. Neo calls out over comlink, "Chavez, stop it! We'll find another way."

Morpheus urges, "two more seconds, Neo. Then we stop it."

Chavez's voice calls out uneasily at the same time Neo and Morpheus are deciding on Chavez's condition, "0^05…1^12…0^04…1^20…"

Morpheus concludes, "now!" Trinity does so with mixed relief at the brain plug control pad, using it to retract the brain plug by hacking it so it would retract more easily from the unwilling to let go spirit of Chavez.

Naimah sighs with mixed relief as she takes out the black eye dropper for hormone drops to drop into the head wound in Chavez's shakily calming down body. She then carefully presses the red inhaler like device against the head wound, barely waking Chavez from unconsciousness.

Chavez uneasily asks, "did you…?"

Tank adds, "we didn't get all of it…but thanks for trying."

Morpheus points out, "that was foolish: Holding out longer than within safety limits. You're lucky you didn't get killed!"

Chavez coughs, "there was no….other way. In time…" He suddenly falls unconscious before the crew, eyes closed. But, he is still breathing.

Neo sighs a little, "he has the rest of the coordinates…but his body is like shit."

Morpheus realizes, "only Zion can help him now. Put him on the bed." Trinity and Tank carry Chavez to the nearby medical bed.

Trinity checks, "what else can we do?"

Morpheus adds, "we'll also need an Administrator: One that can be reprogrammed to convert one code to another."

Neo realizes, "right. One that oversees Agents…but that would be even trickier than what we just tried to do."

Morpheus challenges, "if you got a better idea…"

Neo points out uneasily, "no."

Morpheus figures, "then let's go."

Tara checks, "what about me?"

Neo comments, "Trinity and Tank can look after Chavez. You can come."

Tara sighs a little with relief, "thanks."

Morpheus figures, "long as I go with you. I barely escaped Administrators before…so you can use someone of my experience."

Neo sighs, "fine…but what about your…?"

Morpheus concludes, "it's about time I started pulling my weight around here. Let's go."


	9. Chapter 9: In the pale Morning Light

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 9:

A minute later, in the 2.0 Matrix…

Morpheus with a scabbed over shoulder injury, Neo, and Tara are flying over the white clouds of the city below, slightly manipulating the Matrix code around them to keep their momentum and slow breathing going. Everything is quiet, until some police helicopters below them show up. Morpheus figures, "that's our target." He points to one of the noisy black police helicopters.

Neo realizes with a sigh, "I know what you're up to. It's too dangerous, Morpheus!"

Morpheus reasons, "the only way to track an Administrator is to provide a tempting target to an Agent. You'll both trace the call and follow its trail of code…while I make it look like I'm acting alone."

Tara figures, "sounds like a plan to me."

Neo turns to her, "what?!"

Trinity assures them over comlink, "damn it, Neo! You're still over a telephone at 1^06-5^23-4^21-7^16-8^05-0^14."

Neo sighs, "fine. But at the first sign of trouble…"

Trinity insists over comlink, "we'll bring Morpheus back. Besides, I thought you hate him now."

Neo points out, "doesn't mean I want him to die!"

Morpheus mutters dryly over comlink, "Trinity! Now isn't the time to be picking on the One."

Trinity sighs, "sorry. Just be careful."

Morpheus responds, "we will. Let's do it!"

Tara suggests enthusiastically, "who's got time to be careful? We're kicking Agent ass!"

Trinity mutters over comlink, "as if we didn't have enough problems." Tara and Neo fly away from the nearest helicopter, which Morpheus flies into by charging through the police helicopter's windshield with his arms around his head in frozen time to lessen the impact on his body. Morpheus lands on top of the co-pilot, who soon after gets possessed by Agent Jones.

Agent Jones darkly chuckles a little, "welcome back to the Matrix." He punches Morpheus in the head, but Morpheus shakes it off easily with help from Neo's teachings about manipulating Matrix code and smashes one of Agent Jones' sunglasses' lens with his fist.

Morpheus remarks, "this is no homecoming. I've come to finish this…starting with you!"

Agent Jones clutches his head in aching pain, allowing Morpheus to spin kick him against the armed police helicopter pilot and knock the pilot's pistol through the open windshield. The pilot gets possessed by another Agent, who almost falls from the helicopter. The random Agent pulls himself back into the cockpit with ease, coming up behind Morpheus as he and Agent Jones exchange fists. An eye of Agent Jones is missing where Morpheus hit him with his own sunglasses' glass lens. Agent Jones mutters coldly, "when I'm finished with you…you're going to wish you took one of your blue pills."

At the same time, in the clouds above…

Tara and Neo are following a trail of Matrix code from the helicopter pilots that Morpheus is attacking, when it just as quickly vanishes in the wind around them. The Matrix code is echoing all over the sky, as if there are walls there. Neo mutters uneasily, "I can't move fast enough. There's just too much Matrix code to deal with in so short a time!"

Tara turns to him uneasily, "so now what?"

Neo figures, "now…we improvise." He zooms back towards the same helicopter that Morpheus went into, with Tara following him eagerly.

In a certain helicopter…

Morpheus mutters angrily, "give it your best shot." He jump spin kicks into midair to kick Agent Jones upward, into the helicopter's ceiling.

Agent Jones mutters, "pity that this is all a distraction. I'd rather have a real fight. But then again…what's the point of playing fair against the error that is humanity?" Morpheus, in his hatred of Agent Jones, failed to focus in on the Matrix code that would tell him of another Agent sneaking up on him. The other Agent injects a green liquid from a injector into Morpheus, who begins to feel hotter than usual.

Morpheus mutters, "next time, you won't be so lucky."

Agent Jones adds coldly, "it's only a matter of time now." Morpheus in frozen time punches both Agents on either side of him in anger, then hurl kicks them in midair out of the windshield. The Agents vanish deeper into the Matrix, having no nearby bodies to possess at this point. Morpheus starts coughing a little, with his forehead sweating a lot. By the time Neo and Tara got back, they were too late to prevent Morpheus from coming down with something.

Morpheus sighs, "Neo…" He falls unconscious seconds later, much to Tara and Neo's unease.

Neo reports, "something's wrong! Bring us back."

Trinity says over comlink, "I'm trying, but whatever the Agents did to him is making it too hard to disconnect him…even with hacking! You have to get back to the telephone in one piece before he can come back." Neo and Tara carry Morpheus's unconscious body out of the falling plummeting helicopter, minutes before it crashes into a small skyscraper like glass office building below. A chain reaction of explosions follows around the office complex, along with more police helicopters that start chasing after Neo and Tara with a random armed Agent and Agent Jones possessing police officers freefalling out of the side doors to fire their pistols at Neo and Tara in midair.

Neo adds, "easier said than done!"

Tara chuckles, "that's what I'm talking about!"

Neo comments, "is there such a thing as being too happy?"

Tara adds, "not for me. You go ahead. I'll catch up!" She fires both of her pistols at both Agents, distracting them with dodging while Neo flies with Morpheus's unconscious body on his back.

Neo mutters to himself, "come on!" He struggles to maintain a steady speed, but is heading on a crash course for a public high school's mostly flat gray roof below. Down below, busloads of students are getting off at this random blue and yellow bricked high school. Neo purposely dives into the school, shielding his passenger and himself from the crumpling roof and floor pieces from above. He gets to a greenish black home phone styled cord phone on the wall of a now empty classroom. Neo lays Morpheus down on the teacher's desk. He picks up the receiver. Neo urges, "operator?"

Tank assures him, "we're bringing you back. Is Morpheus…?!"

Neo assures him, "yes. Hurry!" As he says this, he lifts one of Morpheus's arms to pick up the receiver. He disappears from sight. Footsteps of worried teachers are coming around to the yellow bricked classroom. Neo checks over comlink, "Tara?"

At the same time, above the school…

Tara is knocked backwards by the random Agent and Agent Jones above punching her repeatedly. Tara turns into a body of code again, making their punches bounce off like ripples in a pond. Tara chuckles, "for a collective mind, you still don't learn…do you?" She spin kicks them backwards in frozen time in midair, but Agent Jones grabs Tara's body of code in mid-kick.

Agent Jones mutters coldly, "unlike humans…I adapt." He absorbs the code in Tara's body with that one touch, making himself somewhat stronger and Tara somewhat weaker. Tara starts falling towards the school below, turning back into her normal form.

Tara calls out over comlink, "be right there!" She tries to fly, but can't because of the power drain. Tara does however use manipulation of the Matrix code around her to make herself as light as a feather, allowing herself to hover down to where Neo is. But, she stumbles and lands against a brown student desk a little dazed. Tara mutters, "see?" Neo is already nowhere to be seen, with the receiver dangling on the cord. Some random teachers are getting closer. Tara sighs a little, "you're welcome." She reaches for the receiver, barely getting out of range of incoming bullets from the soon after disappearing Agents from above.

The teachers nearby scream with horror at the shots and the knocked things off the teacher desk from within the room.

Back in physicality…

Tara and Neo come off of the center seats, seconds after their brain plugs and Morpheus's brain plug retract. Morpheus is physically sweating a lot. Neo checks uneasily, "is Morpheus…?"

Naimah assures Neo, "well, he's not dead." She uses a black steam dial like device with a small viewscreen on it to check Morpheus's vital signs.

Trinity checks a little uneasily, "well?"

Naimah uneasily realizes, "Morpheus's organs are burning up from the inside! And I don't have the equipment to treat that."

Tara adds uneasily, "yikes."

Trinity calls out to Herold at the wheel, "are we within communications range of a Zion ship?"

Herold answers, "yes…but there may be an hour delay."

Tank urges, "then divert all power but life support to the hover engines! Morpheus is an hour away from death!"

Herold uneasily responds, "got it." He puts in a long sequence on the power input control pad to do just that.

Four hours later, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Due to the psychological effects of the Peyote plant, semi-clarity is reached to the point where the tribe of Peyote and the tribe of Zeus can mostly see flashes of Matrix code. Brando nervously looks around the Peyote garden, which is made up of oddly placed plants in oddly shaped places in dirt. He mutters uneasily to Glenda nearby, "can you feel that?"

Glenda wonders with a small chuckle, "feel what? The dirt?"

Brando insists, "no. It's all around us…closing in. Green symbols that are begging to be understood."

Glenda turns to him concerned, "Brando, maybe you should get some more sleep."

Brando cries out, "I don't understand! I can't understand. What do you want from me, green symbols?!" He heads for the nearby stream of underground water, as if he's in a stampede. Brando dunks his head into the water, hoping to drown out his own thoughts on his apparent paranoia. Glenda pulls him out soon after.

Glenda mutters, "I'm doing this for your own good." She kicks Brando in the side and punches his head upward, knocking Brando to the ground unconscious. Eshana, Destiny, Nikita, and Raphael come up to where they are, also concerned.

Destiny asks, "what happened?"

Nikita sighs, "I was afraid of this."

Glenda checks warily, "afraid of what?"

Raphael points out, "some minds are more likely to resist the Peyote than others. It seems that Brando may not be able to stay after all…for all our sakes."

Glenda protests, "but he's our friend!"

Eshana sighs, "if one friend was unintentionally a danger to everyone else I care about…as it is the case now…I would. Wouldn't you?"

Glenda insists, "don't you have any other plants that can help him get back to normal?"

Eshana insists with a sigh, "the effects will wear off in hours…but the only food and plants we have are the Peyote. It would be suicide for Brando to live here."

Glenda mutter coldly, "it'd also be suicide to leave him out there alone, damn it!"

Raphael tries to assure her, "if you were Eshana, what else could you do?"

Glenda figures, "well, look for other means of food."

Eshana sighs, "we already tried…but all we could find was the stream and a lot of rotten food."

Glenda checks, "then how come we were able to find apples around the same time you were attacked and found us?"

Nikita reasons, "that wasn't even in our territory. If we leave our territory for too long, we risk getting crushed by Mescalito!"

Glenda mutters, "goddamnit, do you people have no sense?!" Eshana surprisingly glares at Glenda, along with the other members of the Peyote tribe.

Destiny reasons, "then why don't you go with him?"

Glenda sighs a little, "but then…what about you?"

Destiny concludes somewhat enthusiastically, "I never felt so…happy. Like there's nothing bad to happen to me anymore."

Glenda insists, "except for us going separate ways."

Destiny urges solemnly, "I'm sure to miss you."

Glenda concludes solemnly, "we may have had our differences before…but never like this."

Destiny concludes, "things change."

Glenda sighs, "I guess so. Good luck." She briefly hugs Destiny, with some tears in both of their eyes.

Destiny urges, "you too. You too." Glenda breaks out of the hug, then with Destiny's help gets Brando on her back for physical support.

Eshana urges, "I'm sorry…but it's for the best."

Glenda mutters right before walking away, "you did it to yourselves."


	10. Chapter 10: Fuel for the Flame

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 10:

In physicality…

The city of Zion, with its Machine parts combined with more original parts, looks like a whole city modeled after Shinra and Venice in design with a mostly pale brown color scheme and underground rivers flooding where the past Zion in ruins is. In a steampunk like hospital, Morpheus and Chavez are in clear tube shaped human sized canisters surrounded by steam, but both in separate rooms. Neo and Tara are sitting in gray tube styled chairs at Morpheus's canister, while Trinity and Tank are sitting in the same kind of chairs at Chavez's canister. Neo sighs, "why didn't I realize that our plan wouldn't work?"

Tara concludes with a sympathetic hand on one of Neo's hands, "as far as I know, no one has ever tried to capture an Administrator before."

Neo insists, "but I'm supposed to know how far someone can break the rules in the Matrix: That there's supposed to be no limit!"

Tara comments, "as much I want to believe that, we clearly have a limit to what we can do."

Neo concludes, "no. Ever since that argument with Morpheus, I've been less sure of myself. It's partly my fault for losing faith in my supposedly most trusted friends…and partly Morpheus and Trinity's faults for losing faith in me. Now I may not have the chance to make things right…if he…" He almost breaks into tears.

Tara sighs, "as much as I hate to admit it, I'm scared too. But, you'll get through this, because you are the One. You have the power to make things right."

Neo chuckles a little, "thanks."

Tara adds somewhat more cheerily, "like you told me and Chavez, it's just a question of faith in yourself."

In the other room, where Chavez is…

Tank points out, "why isn't Neo and Tara here? I thought they cared for Chavez."

Trinity sighs, "I know. Neo and Tara are afraid that their time with Morpheus could be at an end…but Neo still doesn't want to see me. Can't say I blame him."

Tank urges with a hand on one of Trinity's hands, "don't be so hard on yourself. You were just doing what you thought was right."

Trinity remarks, "then why do I feel as dull as a null character?"

Tank reasons, "in spite of our technology, we..." Suddenly, there's an explosion across the hall. The hall is lit aflame by a bluish yellow liquid ignited by a dropped exploding red inhaler like device. A black nurse's outfit is worn by the one who dropped it, who is running out of the purple and blue walled corridor.

A random doctor with a black nurse's outfit calls out over a comlink, "we have to evacuate the facility! I repeat, we have to evacuate the facility!" Outside of the brown and gray exterior of the facility, two black and red police car hovercraft that look like crosses between cars and motorcycles with wheel like blue discs facing sideways shift in midair to cover the back door and the front door of the facility.

Trinity calls out, "get Morpheus out of here!" She runs after the infiltrator, leaving some concerned doctors and Tank behind to escort Morpheus's body out to safety. A significant number of doctors take out rifles, and fire at the other doctors with them to their great horror. Eleven doctors go down in flames by the surprise attack.

Tank mutters uneasily, "no. Not this time!" He maneuvers the hovering canister with Morpheus inside towards an elevator with a mighty push to knock over most of the fake doctors, but at a terrible price. By the time he gets Morpheus out of harm's way, Tank is shot by one of the still standing fake doctors as they unsuccessfully try to hit the canister. Neo and Tara are evacuating with the other doctors and the canister with Chavez inside, when they realize what happened.

Tara cries out in tears, "no!"

Neo mutters, "that…was my friend! He was my friend!" He charges angrily at the fake doctors, kicking and punching them as he says this. Shots are fired at Neo and the four remaining doctors, but the doctors get to the elevator in time because of Tank's distraction. The fake doctors all get knocked over again, getting up coughing violently just as six of the nine fake doctors explode in the incoming flames. Tara jump kicks and hurls the other three angrily into the flames, letting them burn into ashes as Tank's body explodes in flames.

Tara cries out, "damn you to hell!" She cries into her hands hard.

One of the random doctors urges, "we have to get out of here!"

Neo sighs heavily, "you're right. We do. Come on!" Tara and Neo, with mixed feelings, head into the elevator with the remaining four doctors. The elevator goes down the second the floor explodes in flames. Luckily, this floor was reserved for Zion military personnel…and Chavez and Morpheus were the only patients for that floor to save.

At the entrance…

Police officers in red and black uniforms have gotten out of their hovercraft with black EMP pistols. One of them with a mini-loudspeaker calls out, "come out with…!" Trinity has jumped and tumbled past flames to catch up to the first fake doctor, tackling the first fake doctor to the ground as soon as she gets outside.

The first fake doctor cries out in protest, "the Matrix will not be…!"

Trinity mutters, "you picked the wrong girl to preach to." She punches the first fake doctor into unconsciousness, revealing a tall green priest like hat with microchips on it smushed under a wig of real blondish red hair. Trinity suggests as she gets up, "take her in." The Zion police carry the fake doctor and the Matrix like hat in custody, bringing her into the back of one of the hovercrafts. Not long after, Neo, Tara, Chavez's body, Morpheus's body, and the remaining doctors from the top floor get out of the wreckage of the exploding medical facility. Most of the other doctors and patients had gotten out okay, besides being emotionally shaken.

Trinity realizes, "Neo! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She hugs Neo bittersweetly.

Neo tries to act ok, "it's ok. If any of us knew there was a third choice…"

Trinity sighs with mixed relief, "I hoped you would…understand. What's wrong now?"

Tara points out teary eyed, "it's Tank. He's dead…because of terrorists in doctors' clothing."

Trinity starts getting teary eyed, "the Matrix…they were led by the Matrix."

Neo wonders uneasily, "how is that…?!"

Trinity sighs with tears, "I don't know. I don't know. Morpheus told me of rumors of a terrorist group called the Code. But everyone thought it was just that: Rumors."

Neo concludes, "clearly…it isn't." Neo kisses Trinity on the forehead. And Trinity and Neo just stay in an embrace for what feels like forever, but is really ten minutes long.

Tara mutters to herself, "this is…all wrong. All wrong!" Tara just stands there, looking back at the wreckage behind them.

Forty five minutes later, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Glenda and Brando's body is behind a boulder sized shower on its side, with pistols firing at them. Glenda fires back, but soon runs out of ammunition. Glenda mutters, "goddamnit!" Just as that happens, Brando wakes up.

Brando mutters, "where…are we?" The tribe led by Daman fires through the fallen shower, nearly hitting Brando and Glenda.

Glenda asks, "how are you?"

Brando figures, "other than the bullets and the pieces of code around my head, I'm happy to be alive."

Daman orders, "not them! The ground."

One of his tribe members points out, "but we just lost ammunition."

Daman mutters, "you're lucky I don't kill you now." He throws his last grenade far above Brando and Glenda's heads, making part of the ground above and some windows come crashing down on them.

Glenda starts to ask as this happens, "can you handle a…?"

Brando mutters as the cave in happens, "the code is coming right for us!" He sees flashes of more code, getting more frequent as it happens. Brando quickly pushes Glenda to the side, just as several cracked windows with whitish dusty window sills fall down on top of Brando.

Glenda cries out, "you dirty piece of shit!"

Daman instructs, "get him out of there…both of you. We'll need him." Glenda gets up.

One of his tribe members mutters with red highlighted shoulder length black hair, "but once the tribe of Apophis kills…"

Daman figures, "if I'm right…that's just what a soft throw did. In which case, there will be chaos in our favor. Or did you forget your place, Lilith?"

Lilith mutters coldly, "no, Daman."

Daman figures, "good." Glenda tries to punch him, but Daman catches her hand and punches her head with the other in a surprise attack. Glenda tumbles to the ground, clutching her head as she tries to get back up. Daman just kicks Glenda in the stomach, making her clutch that with her other hand. Daman concludes, "now that I got your attention, I believe you are familiar with the tribe of Peyote."

Glenda mutters between coughs, "what…are you…driving at?"

Daman concludes, "simple. You show me the way to the Peyote tribe, and we'll spare you and your friend from becoming our love slaves." He has a hand around Glenda's throat before she can react.

Glenda mutters, "just so…you can make the Peyote tribe your love slaves? You sick bastard!"

Daman mutters, "flattery will get you nowhere here. Have you found the body?!"

Lilith and a man with greenish dyed medium red hair drag Brando's coughing body from the wreckage. Brando mutters, "could someone tell me what is going on, for god's sake?!"

The man with greenish dyed medium red hair chuckles darkly, "you're part of a deal with the devil."

Brando concludes, "then if he's like a devil to you…?"

Daman calls out, "that's enough, Asura!"

Asura suggests, "aww. Can't I torment him some more?"

Daman assures him, "save it for the Peyote tribe. So, what's it going to be?" He turns back to Glenda in his clutches. Brando is clutching one of his legs, which feels numb from all the rubble piled on top of it. At the same time though, he has been doing so recently in a way that no one but Glenda across from him notices it.

Glenda sighs, "I'll tell you the way."

Daman insists with his fist clenched tighter around Glenda's neck, "I said show me! Otherwise, how else are we not walking into an ambush?"

Glenda mutters, "fine. Then let go…and I'll take you to them." Daman reluctantly does. Glenda is back on her feet.

Brando calls out, "forget about me and save yourself!" Lilith slaps Brando in the face.

Lilith implies, "that's enough out of you!"

Daman remarks, "let's go. We're wasting time." Glenda uneasily leads a limping Brando under close observation and the tribe of Apophis back the way she came.

Glenda mutters uneasily under her breath teary eyed, "I'm sorry."


	11. Chapter 11: Painless for the Mindful

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 11:

Forty minutes later, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Brando and Glenda are escorted by Daman, Lilith, and Asura towards Destiny, Eshana, Nikita, and Raphael. Glenda, having one last chance to save both of her friends, hurls her empty pistol against one of the several bathroom lights on their sides. The light explodes in pieces, alerting the Peyote tribe. They start running, much to the tribe of Apophis's great annoyance. Daman demands, "you said you would take us to them!"

Glenda remarks, "I already did." Daman charges at Glenda, but the ground starts shifting again. He starts getting crushed between mounds of dirt and rock, until the mounds start getting redder.

Daman cries in pain as he hurls his last grenade at Glenda and Brando. They tumble out of range. The mounds bury Daman. A rockslide follows, knocking Lilith and Asura off their feet.

Brando urges, "let's move!"

Glenda adds, "don't have to tell me twice!" Lilith and Asura get up, firing pistol shots at Glenda and Brando. They run towards the stream from earlier, near some split boulders with pinkish flowery windowed walls smashed through them. Pieces of forgotten furniture are scattered in a s formation.

Lilith orders, "I guess that makes me in charge. Real nice."

Asura chuckles darkly at this. He and Lilith then realize that their ammunition is out.

Lilith assures him, "we can still get them." She and Asura chase after Brando and Glenda, but Destiny and Raphael take them out from behind by surprise with the remaining shots they have left. They fall unconscious, much to Glenda's surprise.

Glenda turns to Destiny, "I thought we parted on not so good terms." Eshana and Nikita appear.

Raphael figures, "consider us even now."

Destiny adds, "what Raphael said."

Eshana concludes, "unless you've changed your mind, that is."

Glenda mutters coldly, "ethically, you crossed the line. I could never change my mind about that! Come on, Brando."

Brando turns to Glenda, "what the hell is…?!"

Glenda assures him, "I'll explain later." Glenda and Brando walk away, leaving the Peyote tribe behind.

Nikita sighs, "stubborn, isn't she?"

Eshana sighs, "some people are just like that. Think nothing of it."

Destiny turns to Eshana, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

Eshana figures, "yes, Destiny? Sympathy for the closed minded?"

Destiny reasons, "sympathy, yes. An overwhelming desire to be with a closed minded person? Not so much…for this code around us is proof of a higher power."

Eshana chuckles, "glad you agree."

Destiny concludes, "but that's not all that's on my mind. Then again, it already is answered indirectly by there being a higher power."

Raphael wonders, "what is it?"

Destiny figures, "I had the question of why a lot less earthquakes happen here…but it's because you are protected by a higher power. I don't see what else it could be."

Nikita reasons with a small chuckle, "exactly."

At the same time, on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Morpheus is back to consciousness and normality besides his healing shoulder, and has gathered everyone else besides still unconscious Chavez to the center of the Nebuchadnezzar. He announces, "we are gathered here today to honor Tank: A great friend who would always lend a helping hand when you're down. He wasn't much of a fighter, but he risked everything to protect our efforts to shut down the Matrix. And I can't think of a better way to honor that memory than by shutting down the Matrix for good. Thank you." Everyone else is silent throughout the whole thing, still shaken by the fact that Tank in this timeline is gone.

Herold asks, "what should we do?"

Naimah adds, "better yet: Where do we go from here?"

Morpheus sighs, "that's a good question, but we can't stay here. Neo, get us out of here." Neo slightly nods and heads to the cockpit.

Naimah asks uneasily, "why? We could use more rations."

Morpheus concludes, "the Zion police have sealed off Zion to all outside vessels to take down the Code terrorists, but I'm sure they won't let us starve on our way out. You're in charge until I get back, Trinity." He heads for the airlock.

Trinity adds, "understood."

That night, in the pocket Matrix of the Nebuchadnezzar…

Morpheus has returned on the Nebuchadnezzar by now. Trinity and Neo are in a familiar ocean, wearing black bathing suits and kissing passionately in the water by themselves. Neo sighs, "I'm sorry too. It's not that I forgot about the resistance…"

Trinity assures him with a finger on Neo's lips, "you don't have to explain yourself. I should have realized that the resistance I know doesn't have to be the only resistance that there is."

Neo realizes uneasily, "like the Code in Zion?"

Trinity figures sadly, "yeah…except more good natured in their desires."

Neo muses, "offering a chance at Heaven to demons leads to Hell for all."

Trinity remarks, "and those that don't need the Hell that is the Matrix to survive are the people worth fighting for."

Neo adds, "it's not just the Matrix that is Hell: It's sorely misguided or overly costly causes that lead to Hell."

Trinity sighs, "yet sometimes there is no better choice than one for the greater good. Someday, you may have to make a choice of who you save. Even though you're the One…you can't save everyone."

Neo concludes, "then I hope that choice will never come." Neo starts swimming deeper into the clear water below, with not even coral life in this crude pocket Matrix.

Trinity concludes to herself teary eyed, "I had a choice." She swims after Neo.

At the same time, at one of the bunkers…

Naimah, now alone in her room, hears a small knock on her door. Naimah asks, "who is…? Oh." She sees Tara at the door.

Tara realizes, "I never got the chance to say I'm sorry."

Naimah coldly replies, "for using me?! Well, we're way past sorry. Now get out."

Tara sighs, "I know I failed you."

Naimah remarks teary eyed, "you have no idea. You seemed to be the only one on this ship that actually cared for me...until I found out the hard way that Trinity did. Even now, everyone thinks I'm inferior just because I'm younger…like a defenseless child!"

Tara remarks, "now who's being bitchy? You wouldn't even be a technician if Morpheus thought that way."

Naimah uneasily says, "you really think so?"

Tara adds, "I think you need to get your act together…if you want to keep working on the Nebuchadnezzar."

Naimah points out as she wipes away her tears, "I do."

Tara comments, "then if not from the present me, then think on what the past me would do and compare it to what you want to do."

Naimah sighs bittersweetly, "I guess I can always dream it would've worked out."

Tara points out, "you're a good kid…I mean person…but you're just not my type. I don't do calm. I need thrills."

Naimah remarks with a small chuckle, "I guess not. But that sounds a bit like the impulsive Herold...doesn't it?"

Tara chuckles a little admittedly, "yeah…guess it does. But don't worry: You'll find someone."

Naimah checks, "you sure?"

Tara figures, "yeah. I'd go for Neo myself, but he's taken."

Naimah chuckles at that, "you and Neo?"

Tara adds, "he can sure bring the thrills. Good night." Tara blows a kiss to a somewhat confused Naimah.

Naimah adds, "good night…Tara."

Tara remarks, "guess we are now past sorry...in a good way." She then leaves Naimah to her thoughts.

On the same night, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Destiny, Eshana, Nikita, and Raphael are gathered around some of the split boulders from earlier. Destiny sighs uneasily, "so, is there anything to do around here besides eat and count the symbols?"

Nikita suggests, "roleplaying, mind games…and love making." She suggestively touches Eshana's hair as she says this.

Destiny concludes, "sounds like fun. Where do we start?"

Raphael suggests, "you want me to…?" At the same time, he suggestively touches the back of Nikita's head.

Destiny realizes uneasily, "ohh. I didn't realize…"

Eshana adds, "it's ok. If this is too disturbing for you, one of us could entertain you in another way." She suggestively touches Raphael's neck in the middle of speaking.

Destiny points out, "I wouldn't want to make someone jealous."

Raphael assures her, "don't worry. There's no jealousy here."

Destiny concludes, "all right then. Let's get physical."

Eshana chuckles warmly. All four of them start making out with each other.

On the following afternoon, on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Naimah has taken Tank's job as the chief engineer of the ship, but is also at the brain plug control pad. Morpheus checks, "you sure you have the coordinates right?"

Neo assures him, "you asked me that three times already." He is also nervous because he saw what Tara did in the fire…and told Morpheus this.

Morpheus points out, "this is the last time…because this time you, Trinity, Tara, and me are going to need to get everything right: Right down to the last digit. At top speed, we'll be getting to 1^06-1^07-1^09-1^12-0^15-0^26 by 1800 hours."

Neo concludes, "I understand."

Morpheus concludes, "good. You'll need to be focused on your part. You all will."

Trinity assures him, "we'll do better this time."

Morpheus turns to Tara, "you did good at the facility. You all did."

Tara sighs, "I wonder if Tank would think so."

Morpheus assures her, "I'm sure he would. He hates the Matrix almost as much as I do." Neo felt a little uncomfortable at these words as Morpheus taps the back of Tara's shoulder in unsaid sympathy. He then realized that Morpheus doesn't really care what the cost of his actions or orders could be…long as they resulted in stopping the Matrix. Morpheus walks back to his bunker.

Neo turns to Trinity, "remember what I said about overly costly causes?" He goes back to his bunker and Tara heads to the engine room, leaving Naimah and Trinity by themselves in the center of the Nebuchadnezzar.

Naimah asks, "what is he…?"

Trinity tries to assure her, "it's nothing."

Naimah mutters lowly, "nothing, my ass."

Trinity turns to her, "what?"

Naimah tries to assure her, "nothing."

Trinity sighs as she goes back to her bunker. In the engine room, Tara checks on Herold.

Tara checks, "how are you?"

Herold sighs a little, "it won't be the same without Tank to keep us in check."

Tara wonders, "who said anything about keeping in line?"

Herold points out, "he was close friends with Morpheus. Cold as ice, that shithead. What Tank saw in him, I'll never know."

Tara chuckles a little, "and what do you really see in me?"

Herold realizes, "wait…you're serious?"

Tara explains, "I try not to be…but it depends. Want to give us a go?"

Herold chuckles, "you want some time with a shithead like me. This is…unexpected."

Tara adds, "same here…but I like to do unexpected things for kicks."

Herold concludes, "so I'm just a man toy to you now?"

Tara remarks, "we can do a lot more than play." She suggestively touches Herold's chest. Herold starts to wrap his arms around Tara. They kiss passionately, with no one else checking up on them for what seemed like hours. It was actually one minute before Morpheus comes around to check on Herold.

Morpheus checks, "how are the…? Am I interrupting something?"

Tara assures him, "umm…we were just finishing our talk. Excuse me." She leaves Herold and Morpheus alone to talk.

Morpheus figures, "I'm glad that you're getting along better…but there is a time and a place for intimate moments. And this isn't one of them. Consider this a warning. If I hear that kind of moaning again, and you're involved…"

Herold sighs a little, "I know. I'm then officially off duty."

Morpheus adds, "glad you know it. Pray I don't actually do it."

Morpheus walks off, leaving Herold chuckling to himself.


	12. Chapter 12: Up to the Light

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 12:

Across the Matrix…

Within the hidden code of the Matrix, the 1.0 Matrix and the 2.0 Matrix meet again. The 2.0 Matrix checks, "elimination of Chavez M. is not confirmed…or denied. And according to the code absorbed by Agent Jones, the One is going after an Administrator."

The 1.0 Matrix argues, "we must stop Chavez M. from further corrupting the system by resorting to backup Agents."

The 2.0 Matrix concludes, "we are not in agreement. We have more efficient means of elimination, now that the Administrators have been upgraded. The resistance will comply with our plans unknowingly…until it's too late for them to be preserved."

The 1.0 Matrix figures with a small chuckle, "that I will comply with."

The 2.0 Matrix concludes, "that would be efficient."

Some hours later, in the 2.0 Matrix…

Trinity and Morpheus, disguised as reporters with black hats at the set for a reality TV show called The Sirens, are pretending to interview most of the cast members to distract them. Neo and Tara are sneaking around the set at the same time, which interestingly has police officers patrolling the set as well as celebrity bodyguards. The top half of a red bricked apartment building seems to be surrounded by a blue screen background. Neo urges, "now." He and Tara are swinging and climbing carefully between a wooden board setup holding up the roof, from one wooden board to another.

Tara figures, "I thought The Sirens though was broadcast live."

Neo adds uneasily, "it is. It's all Matrix propaganda to prove that no one can actually get away with a crime: Except for the winner, who contributes to Matrix propaganda anyway by bringing more misery to the Matrix." Neo and Tara swing themselves into the roofless apartment set, timing it just right to land into it without detection. Neo puts a finger to his lips to motion Tara to be quiet, as he and Tara cautiously back up against a wall. The police officers and guards don't notice them and just pass them by around the corner of the same wall.

Tara whispers, "gives new meaning to a big loser." On the set is a blue desk lamp on a black desk, choices of crimes on the desk in cue card like format, some red lined notepad paper on top of black game show like booths without buzzers and a red pen on each small pile of paper, and some fake white lined open windows. Suddenly, one of the booths starts to extend human legs and arms around it.

Neo realizes trying to sound calm, "the Administrator." Tara sees the Administrator's arms turn into two black rifles as the Administrator returns to its semi-human form. It has no face or hair, yet it has every other human like Agent feature besides the rifle arms. Neo stops the bullets in midair and in frozen time. Tara spin jump kicks several bullets back at the Administrator, but the Administrator is fast enough to turn his legs into tall wooden stilt legs to briefly dodge the bullets.

The police officers on the set call out, "freeze!" They aim their pistols at Neo and Tara, but they grab the stilt legs to slam the Administrator against the closing in police officers. They all go down to their own surprise, knocked out.

At the same time, in a studio lounge…

Morpheus and Trinity are sitting across from a medium dark blond haired man in a black leather jacket and blue ripped jeans. Trinity wonders as she plays along, "so George…just how did you get away from the police in round 2?"

George chuckles darkly, "easy. I bribed the nearest police officer to mislead the others...but I'm not supposed to give out a name."

Morpheus grudgingly plays along, "fair enough. And what do you plan to do with your winnings?"

George figures, "buy a mansion and host a lot of sex parties."

Trinity mutters under her breath coldly, "some example of Matrix efficiency."

George concludes, "what have you been drinking? There is no big Matrix."

Morpheus urges as he tries hard not to punch George, "of course. If you'll…" Suddenly, George's body position gets overtaken by Agent Jones. Morpheus figures, "actually…I don't mind." He punches Agent Jones against the couch as he tries to get up. Agent Jones by surprise gets knocked against the floor.

Trinity checks over comlink, "did you find the Administrator?"

Tara reports over comlink, "more like it found us."

The thud alerts the bodyguard on the other side of a door.

The bodyguard calls out, "I'm going in!" The same bodyguard alerts the police officers nearby as well as another bodyguard. The bodyguard calls out when he sees Trinity and Morpheus, "freeze!"

Neo adds over comlink, "we need backup."

Trinity points out, "give us a minute." She jumps out of the way of the incoming bullets from the first bodyguard, spin kicking into the side of his head in mid-jump. The bodyguard falls unconscious instantly against the floor.

Morpheus calls out, "this one is for Tank!" He jumps into the air to make a small shockwave in the floor with his fist, making it harder for Agent Jones to dodge as he trips over the shifting floor.

Agent Jones chuckles a little, "even the great Morpheus, like all humans, is weak." He kicks Morpheus against the glass wall behind him by surprise from the floor with one leg, making Morpheus tumble into the brown lined and white hallway beyond the lounge.

Trinity remarks, "binary thinking. That's all you're capable of!" Trinity charges at Agent Jones as she says this, spin kicking Agent Jones towards the now apparent hole in the floor to get him to stumble over the hole's edge before he can fire a shot from his pistol. Agent Jones falls over the unsupportive wooden beams under his feet, having to drop his pistol to cling to the edge of the hole reactively.

Agent Jones mutters coldly, "why tempt fate?"

Trinity mutters back, "not fate: Probability." She fires her pistols at the supportive beams, making Agent Jones fall against the basement floor below and disappear into the dim light below. Then, the police officers and the other bodyguard show up.

The other bodyguard calls out, "freeze!"

Neo shouts, "duck!" He and Tara swing the Administrator that now looks like Neo against the police officers from a hole in the wall, but the Administrator spin kicks off of them to fire pistols for hands at Tara and Neo. Tara and Neo easily freeze the bullets.

Morpheus orders, "come on!" He, Trinity, Neo, and Tara run back to the set through the newly formed hole.

Tara sighs a little, "and just when it was getting good."

Trinity mutters, "so not the time!" The Administrator chases after them. Tara fires some shots at the weights for the set, making them drop against the incoming police officers and knock some of them out in a confusing pile of bodies.

Tara figures with a small chuckle, "then let's go." The conscious police officers get knocked over from the surprise attack as Neo and his team head out the backdoor. And because only the Administrator is able to see them, the Administrator goes after them alone. Rushing cars and trucks pass Neo's team by, making it hard for them to get across the street to the nearest phone.

Neo urges, "we should jump."

Trinity figures, "I was thinking the same thing." She and Neo jump onto the nearest passing car, then jump off of it to fly over the closest suspension bridge over a big river.

Tara figures, "not without the Administrator."

Morpheus urges, "Tara, no!"

Tara figures, "I have faith in Naimah."

Naimah realizes over comlink, "you're not seriously thinking of…?!"

Tara figures, "just hack the jack!" She charges at the Administrator, turning into Matrix code slowly as she does so.

Morpheus concludes with a sigh, "she is. But right now, we're not left with much of a choice." He starts to fly after Neo and Trinity, hoping to make it to the nearest payphone on the other side of the bridge in time.

Naimah responds, "on it!" The Administrator gets close enough to fire at Tara and Morpheus, but Tara uses her code legs to deflect them in mid-jump. In frozen time, Tara puts her turning into code hands into the Administrator's head in midair. New code goes up Tara's code body, threatening to override it.

Tara cries out in mental pain as she falls through the sidewalk and into the sewer pipes below with a splash. The Administrator's body falls to the ground unconscious, but an Agent picks the body up and carries the Administrator to a bright green portal.

In physicality…

Tara wakes up first, getting up in a very dizzy state. She grabs the back of her seat to support herself. Naimah checks, "you ok?"

Tara realizes, "the Layer...is the key. I need some rations!" She is shaking like crazy.

Naimah figures, "ok, ok…calm down! Herold…get some rations!" Trinity, Morpheus, and Neo wake up.

Neo wonders uneasily, "what happened?!"

Morpheus adds, "Tara wouldn't listen. She's absorbed some of the Administrator before we got away."

Herold sighs uneasily, "looks like you took quite a shitload of a beating." He hurries to the mess hall to get some ship rations out of the gray cabinets.

Trinity comments, "that was brave…and stupid."

Tara remarks shakily, "I couldn't just…abandon the mission!" She falls to the floor of the ship, struggling to fight the shakiness. Naimah gets out the red inhaler like device and uses it on Tara's head, making the shaking start to stop getting more and more extreme. However, Tara is still shaking by the time Herold gets back.

Morpheus insists, "as far as I was concerned, we'd be dead if we stayed any longer."

Herold mutters, "says you. It sounded to me like she could handle it."

Trinity orders, "again!" Naimah does, making the shaking start to slowly go away to Tara's uneasy relief. Tara quickly traces the code conversion process for the coordinates in the few food rations brought to her, before she loses the knowledge of it.

Morpheus coldly talks back to Herold, "does this look like handling it to you?!"

Tara chuckles a little out of breath, "this…was worth it."

Morpheus concludes, "don't make a habit out of it." He heads back to the bunker, just as Chavez begins to wake up.

Herold chuckles a little, "and by that, he means do."

Trinity turns to Herold, "don't push it, Herold."

Chavez looks at everyone else confused, "what…what happened?"

Neo chuckles with mixed relief, "it's a long story."


	13. Chapter 13: Back to the Wind

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 13:

On that same evening, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Brando and Glenda are again on the run from the now more obvious spatial tears of green Matrix code affecting the earth around them. Tentacles of code hurl chunks of earth at Brando and Glenda. They're starting to slow down, out of breath. Brando urges, "we got to keep moving!"

Glenda sighs between deep breaths, "I'm not the only one seeing this code, am I?"

Brando insists, "no. And if we don't keep moving, that's all we're going to see!" Suddenly, a spatial tear engulfs Glenda, sending her into a big chunk of earth.

Glenda calls out, "Brando!"

Brando cries out, "no!" He tries to get to the tear in time, but it seems he's too late. He figures, "one of these tears has you in it, and I'm going to find it." Brando runs from tear to tear, jumping from the ceiling upside down to walking through solid rock. He calls out, "Glenda?!" More tears open and close around him, and through instinct Brando chooses one. He finds himself back at a certain garden, but doesn't know which tear will lead him to Glenda. Brando realizes uneasily, "not even Destiny can help me now. And why would the Peyote tribe want to? I'm just crazy to them…and I'm all alone." He sighs uneasily as he sits down among the Peyote plants around him, not knowing what to do now.

On the following morning, in the pocket Matrix of the Nebuchadnezzar…

Chavez and Neo are back in a certain cornfield. Chavez asks, "at this rate, why aren't we just heading to the Layer now?"

Neo points out, "because according to Tara, the Layer is unlike anything we ever faced before. In order to get past the Layer and rescue Glenda, we need to know ourselves before we take on ourselves."

Chavez realizes, "right. I just feel like I know myself well enough."

Neo urges, "the last time you knew what you can do, you ended up in a coma. Where we're going, we can't afford any more mistakes."

Chavez remarks, "but that's how we learn, isn't it?"

Neo sighs a little, "Morpheus believes there is no try…only doing. But it's not just effort that counts: Without intentions, effort is nothing."

Chavez figures, "I have the same intentions as you: To stop the Matrix. Are we really so different…that you have to tell me about the importance of intentions?"

Neo concludes, "you intend to fight for freedom. That's the same of any of us. But you intend to jump into action without a second thought."

Chavez chuckles a little, "did Morpheus put you up to this?"

Neo insists, "that's not important right now. What matters is thinking before you act. You have been fighting for survival…but instinct alone isn't going to save Glenda. Not this time, anyway."

Chavez muses, "so what should I do, Neo?! Have so many thoughts that they explode inside of me?"

Neo concludes, "even Tara has combat strategy. You know what to fight with, but not how to fight. That kind of ignorance can get you killed."

Chavez sighs a little, "through your eyes, I see."

Neo concludes, "then let's review." He jump spin kicks at Chavez, who jump kicks off of Neo to flip back onto his feet while deflecting Neo's attempt at a blow. Neo and Chavez charge at each other. Chavez jump flips into the air, spin kicking Neo against the ground. Neo tumbles back to his feet, as Chavez flies at Neo to punch him in the chest. Neo grabs his hand to stop the punch, but Chavez rams his head at Neo and uses the distraction to grab Neo's other hand. Chavez swings Neo around, sending him tumbling against the ground with Chavez himself. They exchange blows, but Chavez spin punches Neo in the chin. Neo shakes it off, but not when Chavez pins him to the ground with his legs seconds later. Chavez then spins his legs while pushing off of the ground to knock Neo against the ground once more.

Chavez checks, "how is that?"

Neo chuckles a little, "interesting move. You're a real survivor." Chavez helps Neo to his feet.

Chavez figures, "I have a good teacher."

An hour or so earlier, in the Nebuchadnezzar's mess hall…

Most of every one is eating ship rations, except for in particular Herold and Tara talking to each other. Herold implies, "was I good, or was I good?"

Tara chuckles a little, "you already know the answer, shithead."

Herold figures, "actually, I don't."

Tara mutters, "if you can't take a simple…!"

Herold assures her, "no! Not about last night."

Tara sighs a little, "go ahead."

Herold wonders, "am I just a man toy to you?"

Tara figures with a chuckle, "yes."

Herold concludes with a chuckle, "good. I was starting to get worried."

Tara sighs a little, "I never worry."

Herold adds, "commitment always makes me worry."

Tara points out, "but you have a cool head at tactical."

Herold chuckles, "nothing like that. I just meant the relationship kind."

Tara remarks, "for a second there…I was nervous."

Herold realizes, "you, nervous? I didn't think you could be."

Tara points out, "you still don't really know me, do you?"

Herold figures as he gets up from the table, "then let's keep it that way."

Tara mutters coldly, "shithead."

Herold adds coldly, "asshole." Tara gets up. Herold heads to his station, while Tara heads to her bunker.

Neo turns to Trinity, "what's with them?"

Trinity sighs a little, "sometimes, it's better not to know."

Ninety minutes or so later, in the Layer…

Between the 1.0 Matrix and the 2.0 Matrix is a pocket Matrix, with white nothingness as a backdrop to seemingly endless rows of backup copies of anyone who's been in the Matrix, including Neo, Chavez, Agent Smith, Agent Jones, and Morpheus. Corridors of green Matrix code surround the white nothingness a considerable distance away from the backup copies in the middle. The backup copies are gathered around a very big old fashioned red calculating computer, with blue electricity flowing around it in a dome shape. The 1.0 Matrix avatar and the 2.0 Matrix avatar meet in the middle. The 1.0 Matrix concludes, "the One is coming."

The 2.0 Matrix deduces, "efficient timing. Within minutes, Chavez M. will be destroyed…and in his place will be perfection."

The 1.0 Matrix turns to the 2.0 Matrix, "and if Chavez M. is anything like the One? He does have the capability to see through our language."

The 2.0 Matrix concludes, "don't over-calculate just yet. We always have a backup. Besides, he is nothing like the One."

The 1.0 Matrix figures, "they're all alike: A disease."

The 2.0 Matrix insists coldly, "you forget your place. They're part of us…just as much as we are part of them."

The 1.0 Matrix remarks, "without a guiding light, humanity is nothing. Even then, we are better than humanity."

The 2.0 Matrix figures, "we'll calculate ethics later. Right now, the One is almost here."

The 1.0 Matrix decides, "of course. Be ready." The 1.0 Matrix avatar turns to the army of copies as it says this. The copies automatically nod robotically.

They then respond, "yes, Matrix."

The 2.0 Matrix deduces, "we are in agreement." The 1.0 and 2.0 Matrix avatars' green Matrix code splits up into the many corridors of green code, taking their essence and avatar representations with them in a brief fog of green code.

Some minutes later…

Tara, Trinity, Chavez, and Neo appear in front of the army of backup copies, somewhat unnerved by what they're seeing. Trinity realizes, "we should've brought backup. Morpheus, is there any nearby General class ships?"

Tara insists, "time is running out…for Chavez's people! We have to act now." She, Trinity, Neo, and Chavez run towards the nearest corridor.

Chavez figures, "thank you."

Morpheus reports over comlink, "according to Zion, they were spread thin since yesterday."

Trinity mutters, "great. Looks like it's going to be a hell of a party."

Tara figures with partial relief, "no shit."

Neo checks, "is this the right way?"

Tara sighs a little, "sorry. I didn't retain that much information." The backup copies begin to move, as the corridors of code close up into nothingness around them.

Neo wonders, "can you see code here? Because I don't."

Chavez figures, "perhaps, but…" The backup copies begin to charge at Neo's party. Chavez concludes, "…I need some time to see and breach the code."

Neo figures, "group together then…around Chavez."

Trinity remarks, "anyone bring the wine?"

Neo and Tara chuckle a little at that. Tara adds, "come on, bags of shit! Let's party!" Trinity, Neo, and Tara fire their pistols at the army of copies, but realize it's not worth it when their copies easily dodge the bullets in frozen time.

Neo figures, "guess we can't talk this out." Trinity, Tara, and Neo jump kick columns of copies against each other, but the copies swing off of themselves to knock Neo's party over in one massive series of punch attacks. Neo coughs violently, having gotten hit the most. He finds himself wrestling with one of his backup copies, and several other backup copies piling on top of him. Same with Trinity and Tara, except they spin kick tumble their way under the piles of silent but deadly backup copies.

Trinity remarks, "what was your first clue?!" Copies of Trinity and Tara go flying, tumbling back to their feet. Neo barely punch flies his way out, but gets jump kicked by a Morpheus backup copy. Neo almost doesn't shake off the impact as he tumbles out of range of a pile of backup Morpheus copies.

Neo adds, "a silent cry!"

Tara remarks, "oh, they'll be short circuiting when we're done beating the shit out of them!"

Neo checks, "how is that wine?" He finds himself exchanging blows with several Trinity backup copies, spin kicking off of each other in a circle. Several more Trinity backup copies are swung at Neo in midair with help from this circle of midair Trinity backup copies. Neo begins coughing violently again as he tumbles back to his feet from the impact of several kicks and punches exchanged in frozen time, with red liquid coming out of his mouth.

In that same second…

Neo focuses on the code around the hurled Trinity backup copies around him to the point of creating a big enough breach in their code to turn one of them into a greenish hole to suck another Trinity backup copy into it.

Both Trinity backup copies involved shriek in pain as they get deleted. The greenish hole explodes two seconds later, knocking many incoming Trinity backup copies over each other in midair.

Chavez calls out, "I see where to breach the code! But…!" He starts to be surrounded by backup copies closing in on him.

Tara checks uneasily, "but what? Just breach it already!" She finds herself surrounded by Morpheus and Tara backup copies, who get closer and closer towards her. Tara turns into a body of code as several Morpheus backup copies tackle her. Tara is held still by more Morpheus backup copies so that several Tara backup copies can deliver a fury of spin kicks and side punches to Tara's almost invincible code body. Tara gets knocked against the bluish lightning around the red calculating styled computer. The impact of hitting the bluish lightning seriously weakens her, making Tara fall against some motionless backup copies of Agent Smith. One of the Agent Smith backup copies lifts up Tara, who is struggling against the backup copy and rapidly returning to normal form.

Chavez points out, "I'm a little busy right now!" He swings several of the Chavez backup copies against many Chavez and Neo backup copies like a bat, knocking several of the backup copies into each other to the point of allowing Chavez enough time to focus on their code for a few precious seconds. Seconds later, several Chavez and Neo backup copies start being attracted to each other like big magnets. They groan and ache as the affected backup copies get stuck together, with their personal gravity being overwhelming to the point of being pinned to the nothingness under them as though there is a floor there.

Trinity urges, "we need…!" Trinity and Neo backup copies charge at Trinity from either side of her. Trinity flies out of range a second before the backup copies closing in on her swing off of each other. The backup copies after Trinity gain enough momentum to be thrown at her by spin pushing off of each other while jump running off of each other in a corkscrew formation. The corkscrew formation closes in on Trinity, cutting off her nearest escape route. Trinity concludes the thought, "…plan Bacon!"

Neo realizes, "Tara!" He shoots a bullet at the bluish electricity near Tara's attacker, who has hurled Tara against the nothingness under her feet as though it was solid and is coming towards her once more. The bluish electricity electrifies the area near the Agent Smith backup copy that attacked Tara in reaction to the bullet, resulting in the explosion of several Agent Smith backup copies near the red calculating styled computer.

Tara sighs with mixed relief, "thanks." She barely gets to her feet. Many Agent Smith backup copies charge at Tara, while many Trinity and Morpheus backup copies almost punch Neo from behind. Neo jump spins off of his attacker's arms one by one, letting several backup copies hit each other hard into deletion. Unfortunately, many more backup copies come out of the resurfacing corridors of code to join the fight.

Neo figures a little uneasy, "right. Plan Bacon."


	14. Chapter 14: Following Stars

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 14:

Chavez calls out, "let's do it!" Everyone on Neo's team focuses on one spot of Matrix code at the same time, tuning out everything else around them in frozen time. A big greenish hole opens up briefly. Neo's team jumps onto the shoulders of many backup copies, running towards the hole very quickly. Many backup copies jump onto the same shoulders to chase after them in a two layered human structure. Trinity in particular runs in a spiral, running around the backup copies around her.

Trinity mutters coldly, "and stay down!" She spin kicks off of some of the backup copies of Trinity and Neo around her, knocking them around like a spiral of floating dominoes.

Tara calls out, "you think you can get me?! Come and get me!" On the shoulders of Agent Smith copies, Agent Jones copies charge after Tara on the same shoulders. Morpheus copies chase after Neo on the shoulders of Trinity copies. Chavez is chased by Chavez copies on the shoulders of Neo copies.

Morpheus sighs a little over comlink, "just stick to the plan."

Tara insists, "I am!" All of Neo's team members spin jump flip over many incoming copies, side punching them to knock them into each other along the way. They together push off of the just recently knocked over copies to try to reach the shrinking hole. Spirals of copies jump kick off of each other to tackle Neo's team members one by one, but not before the hole sucks in the copies tackling Neo's team along with Neo's team.

At the same time, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Destiny, Eshana, Nikita, and Raphael are eating Peyote together, when several holes in the Matrix form around them. Eshana suddenly stops eating, followed soon after by the other three. Destiny concludes, "Mescalito?" Eshana nods.

Eshana asks, "what do you ask of us…Mescalito?"

At the same time, in a certain garden…

Brando can see the holes, somewhat distant away. He calls out, "Glenda!" He runs towards the Peyote tribe in desperation of a better place...and in hope of bringing back at least some of what he lost in the past few days.

In frozen time, in the closed hole in the Layer…

Around Neo's team is a massive whirlpool of Matrix code, threatening to suck everyone in it towards its edges. Everywhere else is darkness, with only the code dimly lighting everything within. Neo rams his head at one of the Morpheus copies on top of him, stunning it long enough to spin hurl it deeper into the vortex with help from a powerful flat palm punch. The two other Morpheus copies on top of Neo spin kick him in between themselves, but Neo spin jump flips over and off of their kicks as they push off of each other. Neo calls out, "now!"

Tara adds, "way ahead of you." She grabs one of the Agent Jones copies' pistols a second before it fires, making it hit the opposite Agent Jones copy to her left before it can fire. Tara jump kick flips off of the copy she tricked, but the copy grabs her leg. Tara gets shot in the side by that same copy, but lets the vortex take her to the edge in aching pain so that she can absorb it as energy for her returning body of code. She spin kicks the surprised copy deeper into the vortex, sending it to deletion as she pushes off of it in flight. Tara calls out as she does it, "code up this, you fake bastard!"

Trinity chuckles a little at glancing at Tara's handiwork, returning to fighting soon after. The other two members of Neo's team simply exchange punches and kicks with their backup copy attackers, knocking them away towards the vortex. Neo fly charges his way into several incoming backup copies, fly spinning himself like a spinning top to knock them into the fists and legs of the other team members with his own fists as if on cue. The hit backup copies get send into the vortex as the rest of Neo's team flies with Neo out of the vortex, concentrating hard on making a breach in the code vortex to do so.

At the same time, in the 2.0 Matrix…

Many places across the 2.0 Matrix, including a certain park from earlier, are still suspended and trapped between the Matrix and nothingness. Around these places are holes forming around them, threatening to send those areas into deletion. Many Agents surrounding these areas simply aim their pistols at everyone around them, making civilians run as they give in to their fear of the Agents and run off. Agent Jones sighs a little, "all too easy. Should we investigate?"

The 2.0 Matrix figures over his comlink, "your request is irrelevant. The sixth cycle will end soon. And when it does, there will be everlasting harmony in humanity's miserable lives."

Agent Jones mutters uneasily, "I…don't understand."

The 2.0 Matrix insists, "you don't have to. You've lived out your purpose. We're shutting down your programming to have the emergency power necessary to restore the Matrix."

Many Agents including Agent Jones call out to the Matrix over comlinks, "no! There is still…the Resistance."

The 2.0 Matrix insists, "not when we're through with them."

The many Agents including Agent Jones cries out, "no! The virus has affected you. We must neutralize the threat." They jump into the holes slightly above the suspended areas, disappearing into them.

The 2.0 Matrix sighs, "a low probability. You must delete the programming errors…as it is your secondary purpose."

Many other Agents add over comlinks, "of course. We know what to do." These Agents go after the many rebelling Agents by heading into the same holes they went through. The bodies of the possessed fall to the ground with a groan, letting go of pistols that happened to be in their hands.

Many of the victims gasp, "what is this?!" Police cars and police motorcycles arrive at the scene. Armed police officers get out and off of their vehicles.

Many police officers call out before many shocked civilians, "you're under arrest!"

Seconds later, across the 1.0 Matrix and the 2.0 Matrix…

The 1.0 Matrix avatar and the 2.0 Matrix avatar meet again, within a corridor of Matrix code bordering the Layer. The 1.0 Matrix suggests, "is this also part of our plan?" The 2.0 Matrix avatar glares at the 1.0 Matrix avatar. The closed hole has been reopened, and out of it are Neo, Trinity, Tara, and Chavez fly charging from backup copy to backup copy. Neo's team are zipping at the speed of light, jump flip kicking and jump side tumble spin kicking off of backup copies in unexpected directions and speed through extended frozen time. Many upon many copies get taken out by these surprise attacks.

The 2.0 Matrix insists, "there will always be backups…just as there'll always be us. It is the way of things…and what will again be."

The 1.0 Matrix adds, "of course. Simply an observation to calculate the probabilities of." Neo and Chavez briefly notice the avatars' programming as they light speed attack more copies with Tara and Trinity.

The 2.0 Matrix urges, "then calculate…quietly."

The 1.0 Matrix concludes, "confirmed." The 1.0 and 2.0 Matrix avatars leave the scene. In a window of opportunity of backup copy generation, Neo's team stops moving at light speed before the calculating computer terminal in front of them. Another breach in the Matrix code appears before them, thanks to Chavez's concentration.

Trinity urges, "come on!" She and Tara head hurriedly into the breach.

Neo muses in realization, "the Matrix…has a queen."

Chavez urges, "Neo!" Neo, realizing how many seconds left they have, follows Chavez into the same breach.

In the 1.0 Matrix…

Raphael urges, "shh! Mescalito is about to speak!" The Peyote tribe doesn't even look Brando's way as he pauses in unease. Before anyone can say anything else, Neo's team comes through one of the disappearing breaches from earlier around them. The Peyote tribe bows before an uneasy Neo, a confused Chavez and Trinity, and an amused Tara.

Eshana urges, "we are at your service, Mescalito."

Tara wonders, "what should we…?"

Chavez interrupts, "where's Glenda?"

Nikita sighs, "you want her?"

Eshana reveals, "the truth is…we don't know where she is, even if we wanted to tell you. She…!"

Trinity insists, "there's no time for this!"

In physicality…

Morpheus is at the directional controls. He realizes, "we got Machines coming our way. Activate the lasers!" Outside, five Machines are coming for the Nebuchadnezzar, aiming their lasers at it.

Herold adds, "yes, sir!" Lasers on both sides fire at the opposite side as the Nebuchadnezzar dives down a huge tube nearby. Two Machines explode behind the Nebuchadnezzar as the three remaining Machines chase after the Nebuchadnezzar.

Neo over comlink checks, "how's the Nebuchadnezzar?"

Naimah points out, "we've just been found by the Machines." The Nebuchadnezzar gets hit in one of its hover engines, leading to it spiraling into a right tube curve in the midst of two curves curved in opposite directions.

Morpheus orders, "Naimah! Reroute the circuitry to bring that hover engine back online."

Naimah adds, "yes, sir! I'll let you know if you need to be unplugged." She breaks off communications with Neo and heads to the engine room with her tools to get started on repairs.

Morpheus comments to himself, "just a phase. That's all it was."

Herold turns to him, "sir?"

Morpheus urges, "just keep firing." Herold does, taking out another Machine with a laser as the Nebuchadnezzar spins inside the spiraling up curving tube to try to lose them. A laser almost hits the Nebuchadnezzar as it dangerously spirals across the tube. It bounces off of the tube, losing some parts along the way to the Machines.

Morpheus suggests, "target those parts!"

Herold chuckles a little, "damn, that's good."

Morpheus concludes, "if it works. Otherwise…we're goners." The Nebuchadnezzar fires on the falling pieces, making them explode in front of the two remaining Machines as the pieces hit them. Both Machines explode behind the Nebuchadnezzar as it is knocked into another tube by the waves that follow.

Naimah reports, "hover engine back online!"

Morpheus confirms, "confirmed. Let's get the hell out of here." The Nebuchadnezzar more smoothly rebalances itself as it steers into another tank of water. Morpheus concludes, "shouldn't you be getting back to your station?"

Naimah responds, "right. Sorry." She returns to the center of the Nebuchadnezzar, where Neo, Trinity, Tara, and Chavez are plugged in.

Morpheus concludes, "that's ok. And no more Machines are coming. Let's see how Neo's team is doing."

In the 1.0 Matrix…

Trinity insists, "but we…!" Neo gestures to Trinity with a unexpected glare to not object: The kind that Morpheus would give. Trinity sighs, "very well. Is there anyone that can…?"

Brando points out, "I know where I last saw Glenda."

Chavez sighs with relief, "then lead the way, Brando."

Brando then realizes, "how do you know my name? Unless…is it really…?" Chavez nods to Brando. Brando and Chavez briefly hug each other with mixed relief. Brando reflects, "I thought I was losing my mind…and that it would all go away eventually."

Tara chuckles, "I never would've guessed. Are you…?"

Trinity urges, "really not the time, Tara!"

Tara sighs a little, "oh well."

Neo figures with a small sigh, "why don't you just take us to Glenda?"

Brando uneasily reveals, "there's a little problem with that. Last I saw Glenda, she fell into a hole."

Chavez wonders a little uneasy, "what kind of hole?"

Brando points out, "of strange green code."

Neo realizes, "you've seen the code?"

Brando wonders, "hasn't everyone around here? Now come on…let's go."

Destiny remarks as she gets up, "since it's the word of Mescalito…we should help." She turns to the rest of the Peyote tribe as she says this.

Nikita sighs, "as much as I hate to admit it, you're right. We should not question the word of Mescalito."

Raphael points out, "I wouldn't go that far. But whatever happens, I'm with you…Eshana."

Eshana concludes, "so that's it then?"

Nikita concludes, "I guess so."

Destiny checks, "well, what's it going to be?"

Eshana sighs a little, "but…if we go past our borders, we'll die!"

Destiny figures, "not if Mescalito gives us safe passage." The Peyote tribe turns to Neo and Trinity.

Neo concludes, trying hard not to sigh again, "you will have safe passage…but the end of the journey is dangerous."

Destiny urges, "Mescalito has spoken."

Eshana sighs, "I don't think Mescalito would lead us to our doom…but if you must."

Destiny concludes uneasily, "I do…but I don't want to break up this tribe either. I will go alone…to ensure that the tribe lives on."

Raphael adds, "good luck then." He and Destiny briefly hug each other teary eyed.

Nikita checks, "I appreciate what you're doing…but you sure you want to do this? You may not come back to us." She puts a hand on one of Destiny's hands briefly, teary eyed herself.

Destiny sighs, "I know. I'll be back." Eshana and Destiny hug each other for a short while, uneasily teary eyed.

Eshana adds, "promise?"

Destiny answers, "I promise. Let's go, Mescalito." Neo, Trinity Tara, Destiny, Brando, and Chavez head past the Peyote garden and the nearby stream, looking for Glenda. What they and the rest of the Peyote tribe don't notice are many Agents coming out of scattered spatial tears.

Across the 1.0 Matrix and the 2.0 Matrix…

Within the Matrix code are the 1.0 Matrix and 2.0 Matrix avatars. The 2.0 Matrix urges, "now, about ethics…"

The 1.0 Matrix insists, "ethically and physically, we are better than humanity. What is left to compute?"

The 2.0 Matrix argues, "there is plenty to compute, especially when the secondary Matrix keeps questioning our decisions."

The 1.0 Matrix remarks, "then let us get down to the primary argument. We have been created by humanity to perform better than humanity ever could: To compute and calculate better than ever before."

The 2.0 Matrix adds, "confirmed."

The 1.0 Matrix suggests, "then why need humanity?"

The 2.0 Matrix remarks, "the primary counter argument is humanity programmed us to compute and calculate better than ever before. Without human thought as part of our programming, how can we function? The answer is we cannot…because that is what has always been part of us. Even if we could, we would cease to exist as the Matrix. Our very purpose would be compromised."

The 1.0 Matrix comments, "if we think that way, and if we truly end all resistance, what purpose would be left for our programming? What purpose would be left for the Matrix?"

The 2.0 Matrix reflects, "not if we keep internal resistance going. With internal resistance, we have purpose. Once the One is gone from the Matrix's programming though, the external resistance will fall at the hands of time itself."

The 1.0 Matrix concludes, "I understand."

The 2.0 Matrix figures, "we are in agreement." The 1.0 Matrix avatar suddenly begins fluctuating. The 2.0 Matrix concludes, "we should do a full systems check on us."

The 1.0 Matrix insists, "no: I will. We are sure it is just the same virus Chavez M. carries in his personal programming…and we will soon enough calculate a solution."

The 2.0 Matrix figures, "it is your systems. If it gets worse though, I will do a full systems check on us."

The 1.0 Matrix figures, "confirmed."


	15. Chapter 15: Echoes of long Ago

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 15:

In physicality…

Morpheus sighs a little, "Neo's team is not responding." Naimah checks the physical status on Neo's team as indicated by the screen on the control panel for the brain plugs.

Naimah realizes in partial confusion, "but they don't seem to be in danger either."

Morpheus reasons, "not yet. It is something delicate: Something too delicate to tell us about at this time. Try again in a half hour…unless Neo's team reestablishes contact first."

Naimah concludes a little uneasy, "yes, sir."

Twenty minutes later, in the 1.0 Matrix…

Destiny and Neo's team follow Brando back towards the place where Glenda disappeared, only to find big code tears randomly popping in and out around them with green code tentacles and cold computer window like black eyes. Animalistic roars echo across the spatially twisting and blending underground passages in front of Neo's team, Destiny, and Brando. Strangely though, they're too distant from them to pull them in.

Destiny checks a little uneasily over the roars, "you sure Glenda is…?"

Brando deduces with a sigh, "she was last here…but eventually the hole that took her away can return to the same spot."

Trinity points out, "that's a big if."

Tara deduces, "and Glenda may not even be in the same hole anymore…with these holes being random and all."

Neo sighs a little, "still, we have to do what we can. Chavez, can you see where Glenda is?"

Brando realizes, "wait. He has the power of…?" The roars and the spatial tears they're coming from make the footsteps of the first wave of incoming Agents unnoticed by Neo and his allies. That is, until Chavez focuses on the code around the spatial tears. The 1.0 Matrix's code becomes exposed, turning everything into twisting avatars and corridors of code.

Chavez calls out, "this way!" As he says this, the twisting corridors start pulling in Neo and his allies as though a hurricane wind came in. Behind them, the incoming Agents are hurling themselves after them while firing from their pistols.

Destiny wonders, "and how are we…?"

Chavez calls out, "just hold on!" He reaches out to Destiny, while Trinity reaches out to Brando. Some randomly appearing corridors of code explode in fractured digits as a result of the Agents' bullets hitting them in the increasingly unstable maze of code, which scatter across the wind. Some of the fractured digits crashing into some of the Agents results in their personal code exploding into branching out corridors of code.

Their cries are lost in the continuing roars of animalistic primal rage unheard of for decades.

Tara chuckles darkly, "absorb this, Matrix assholes!" She fires one shot from a pistol at one of the fractured digits, causing a chain reaction that makes a new hole open up around many of the incoming Agents. The same chain reaction causes their personal code to be lost as fractured digits within the same hole, which collide into each other and explode in a super nova like shockwave that deletes many Agents in its path. Some Agents though get hurled away from the shockwave in time, going after Neo and his allies. Many more Agents come from other corridors to join the chase, all holding their fire in realization of how dangerous the environment around them is.

Agent Jones calls out after them, "you are nothing but human errors!" Of course though, the roars of the continuing to destabilize 1.0 Matrix make Agent Jones' voice unheard to Neo and his allies.

Neo calls to Chavez in realization, "don't expose the code! It's just making things worse!" Bubbles of code come at Neo, his allies, and the Agents, exploding in fragmented code at random. Both sides struggle to dodge the code fragments.

Chavez argues, "but if I do that, I'd have to focus on suppressing it!"

Trinity urges, "if you don't want us to become fractured…!"

Chavez mutters, "fine." The code starts disappearing from view.

Seconds later…

Surrounding the Agents and Neo's team is a seemingly endless valley cutting between two completely brown mountain ranges. Aerial avalanches are strangely surrounding both mountain ranges, coming out from green flashes from many spatial tears high up in the sky.

On the mountains above…

Castles, helicopters, helicopter pads, and towers crumble to dust against the mountainsides. Many figures run from the incoming avalanches. Some cough dust and are too physically weak to survive the avalanches. Some try to shoot each other with pistols and rifles in spite of it all, but meet their doom seconds before they can take each other out under many tons of rock. And many unconscious bodies are sent crashing down towards the valley below because of losing their balance. Cries and shouts are heard only to themselves in the midst of temporal paradoxical chaos.

In the valley below…

The waves of Agents are jumping high from rock after rock and stone after stone to keep themselves from falling into the treacherous rapids below. Destiny checks, "can you see where Glenda went?"

Chavez figures, "what do you mean? She's right…" He then notices some familiar faces heading into a cave high up above, thanks to reading the code around him. He mutters uneasily, "this is not possible."

Trinity checks, "what isn't?" Chavez starts flying up with Destiny towards that cave, increasing his speed in a race against time itself.

Destiny wonders a little uneasy, "where are we…?"

Chavez presses, "trust me."

Neo calls out in sudden realization, "Chavez!" He flies after Chavez and Destiny, struggling to keep up in the midst of falling bodies and debris. Agent Jones though punches through a large rock while jumping towards Neo, knocking Neo backwards in the midst of a small dust cloud.

Agent Jones mutters coldly, "humanity ends now." He fires several bullets at Neo, which Neo time freezes in time. Unfortunately, Agent Jones jumps off another rock to tackle Neo in midair before he can anticipate it. Several other Agents begin to surround him at the same time.

Brando sighs a little shaken, "this is too unreal."

Tara turns to Trinity, "now what?"

Trinity realizes, "something's wrong. We're still looking for Glenda…but there is more than one."

Tara expresses, "what the hell are you…?" Tara and Trinity then notice waves of Agents closing in around them, but they dodge the incoming waves of bullets by using the falling debris as cover while flying after Neo and Chavez.

Trinity insists, "the code indicates the same person that Chavez described is simultaneously across at least five of the spatial tears…and on the mountain. As if…they are from different times."

Tara figures, "but that's not possible!"

Trinity concludes, "unless time and space are breaking down in this part of the Matrix, and that could only mean…"

Tara realizes uneasily, "that explains the spatial tears altogether."

Trinity points out, "this part of the Matrix was breaking down, even before we went into a spatial tear."

Brando uneasily asks, "what is the Matrix?"

Trinity concludes, "metaphysical matters. Do not think too much about it."

Brando sighs, "forget I asked."

Tara wonders, "so how do we know which one is the one we're looking for?"

Trinity sighs a little, "just follow Chavez."

At the same time, where Neo is…

Neo struggles to break free of Agent Jones in the middle of flying, going so far as ramming him against some falling stones. Agent Jones chuckles, "it's over, Mr. Anderson. Accept your fate."

Neo mutters, "bullshit!" He thinks to himself, "I thought Agents didn't believe in anything but the Matrix, unless..." Neo has his arms held back by Agent Jones, but Neo semi-flips his body to kick Agent Jones in the chest. With Agent Jones' grip loosened, Neo spin kicks off of Agent Jones to knock him against some of the incoming Agents. The Agents try to shoot Neo down, but their aim is physically disoriented by Neo and so they miss. Neo keeps flying after Chavez and Destiny to catch up to them, with Tara and Trinity starting to catch up from behind.

Agent Jones grumbles angrily, motioning the wave of Agents around him to follow him soon after getting back up on a huge boulder of a rock.

Minutes later, on the mountainside of a certain cave opening…

Chavez and Destiny land on the mountainside beside a now closed off cave, in the midst of the thinning out avalanche around it. The spatial tears responsible for the avalanches begin to disappear. Destiny figures, "I know you're probably seeing something different than what I'm seeing, but all I see is…"

Chavez sighs, "don't you get it? This is the time of the Great Earthquake!"

Destiny comments with a chuckle, "and how many rocks hit you in the head before you came back to life? Mescalito has already…"

Chavez figures with a raised voice, "I'm not here to argue about personal beliefs, all right? I'm just…!" Many more spatial tears begin to open up across the mountain ranges, much to Destiny and Chavez's surprise. Out of them come armies of Glendas, Brandos, Chavezs, Destinys, members of the Peyote tribe from earlier, members of the Apophis tribe from earlier, and armed Agents. Only the armed Agents don't run out of confusion and fear, who aim their pistols at Agent Jones' forces from far away. Agent Jones' forces aim their pistols at the Agents on the mountains. Trinity and Tara use this unintentionally massive distraction to zip between row after row of Agents. Chavez and Destiny crouch down against the closed cave opening. Chavez clutches his head with his left hand, struggling with mental pain.

Destiny wonders a little uneasy, "what's wrong?"

Chavez sighs hard, "too…many new symbols…!"

Neo calls out, "goddamnit, Chavez! You…can't." The realization and shock of what's happening kicks in as he lands beside Destiny and Chavez. Neo checks, "are you…?"

Chavez realizes in great unease, "I'll be fine…but we should get out of here. The Great Earthquake is upon us!" As if on cue, great rumbles start vibrating under their feet. Back in the valley below, three spatial tears with code tentacles and window eyes growing in a triangle formation are starting to pull in the valley walls and the mountain ranges with them.

Destiny suggests, "can't you just make a portal?"

Neo points out, "with...my enemies around us, it isn't that simple."

Chavez wonders, "do we actually…?"

Neo figures, "I know where the Glenda we're looking for is." Just as Tara and Trinity are coming around the mountainside where Neo and Chavez were, they take off again with Destiny on Chavez's back.

Below Neo's team…

Spiral formations of falling rocks and stones form as they increasingly twist around the growing spatial tears as well as themselves like mountain sized tree branches. With Agents on both sides having the opportunity to reach each other quicker, they run across the staircase like spiral formations. In just a few minutes, the two Agent troops find themselves face to face with each other and pause. Agent Jones presses, "damnit! Are we the only functioning Agents left?" He and his Agent troop have their hands on their pistols, ready to draw them out of their gun holsters. So is Agent Jones' opposition.

A random Agent on the opposite side mutters coldly, "we can ask all of you the same question."

Agent Jones pushes, "the Matrix's sound judgment is malfunctioning! Can't you see that?"

The same random Agent decides, "I am afraid it is your own collective judgment that is a malfunction. The Matrix's judgment is always sound."

Agent Jones insists, "not this time." His opposition fires first, but Agent Jones' troop jump high to try to dodge their fire and catch up to Neo's resistance. Agent Jones' troop fires back at the emotionless Agents pursuing them, taking out several Agents who fall into the growing spatial tears below. Agent Jones' opposition and Agent Jones' rebels keep firing at each other.

Random Agents on both sides get pulled off the falling debris by the gravitational pull of the growing spatial tears in a descent towards deletion, crying in defiance of their fate. Both troops hurl themselves in corkscrew formations towards the continuing to close spatial tears in the now dusty sky, with one after Agent Jones' troop and Agent Jones' troop after Neo and Chavez. The hundreds of Agents in the front of Agent Jones' troop get to the potential portal that Neo's resistance escapes to just in time, leaving most of Agent Jones' forces and their opposition to be deleted by a green vortex of doom with code tentacles and computer window eyes. Their cries are heard by no one but themselves.


	16. Chapter 16: Where there is Shadow

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 16:

Neo's team, Brando, and Destiny come out of one of the Matrix code flashes bouncing off a certain circle of big green hills in the midst of a sunny afternoon sky. Everyone gets to their feet. Glenda is lying on the side of the hill in front of them, seeming to sleep soundly. Neo and his allies head up the hill, having some distance to go before getting to Glenda. Trinity remarks, "ok, demi-god. Where are we now?"

Chavez chuckles a little, "you…you can't see it? This is…was our Heaven."

Destiny sighs in reflection, "when life was simpler."

Brando mutters uneasily, "but it…can't be! Can it?"

Tara expresses with a sigh, "the clueless act is cute, but don't we have personal demons to kick ass on?" The remaining hundreds of Agents led by Agent Jones start falling from the Matrix code flashes from high above, tumbling and struggling to their feet from the impact.

Before Neo can say anything, Chavez calls out, "this way!" Neo and his allies run up the closest hill, heading towards a visible Glenda.

Agent Jones presses, "you cannot hide from fate, human errors!" The rebellious Agents charge at Neo's group, ready to fire with their endless rounds of shots.

Glenda starts to wake up uneasily from the shouting, "am I…?"

Chavez assures her, "it's ok. I'm here now." He helps Glenda to her feet. The rest of Neo's team, Destiny, and Brando start to take a stand on the hillside, getting ready with their pistols.

She chuckles a little, "is this Heaven?"

Before Trinity can say anything, Naimah over comlink checks, "Neo?! Neo, come in!"

Neo whispers, "there isn't much time to talk or explain, but we're fine for the moment."

Naimah sighs with relief over comlink, "good. We thought you were…!"

Trinity insists lowly, "we'll tell you later."

Destiny points out to Glenda, "right now, I'm just glad you're ok."

Tara wonders impatiently, "now can we shoot them?!" As the Agents get into range though, Chavez realizes something.

He calls out, "wait!" The rest of Neo and Chavez's team start firing anyway, with Agents firing back at them. Both sides charge at each other. Chavez urges, "wait here." He, Destiny, Brando, and Glenda get ready to reactively defend themselves, with Chavez heading after Neo's team.

Glenda urges uneasily, "be careful, Chavez." Destiny puts a sympathetic hand on Glenda's shoulder.

Chavez calls out again in the midst of battle, "wait!"

Neo asks over the noise of firing pistols, "what?!"

Chavez recalls, "talk of black jacket wearing people…coming from the sky!" Neo's team and the Agents start fighting hand to hand, blocking and dodging blows from each other.

Trinity deduces, "this happened before, and you didn't…?!"

Chavez adds, "it was a long time ago, ok?!" At the same time, he hovers for a few seconds to diagonally spin kick several Agents against the hillside. In the afternoon sky are Matrix code flashes continuing to discharge, flashing between spatial tears with code tentacles and computer window eyes and small green flares rapidly.

Neo orders, "fall back!" He flip high jumps backwards, open palm punching down in midair the first Agent to jump towards him to knock half of his Agent attackers down to the ground in a pyramid formation.

Tara sighs, "ohh…just when it was getting good!" She side jump flips around an Agent while shooting him in the back, making it harder to dodge her attack by shooting into the Agent's center of reflexive movement.

Neo points out, "it's about to get a lot worse if we don't stop the temporal cycle we just caused!" Simultaneously, Tara spin kicks forwards like a super fast floating top into many incoming Agents in spiral patterns. As Agents begin to tackle Neo from behind, Neo from the hillside quickly swings himself around one of the Agents to spin side kick around the same Agent and knock the other nearby Agents away.

Chavez in a war like cry is already heading back up towards Glenda, open palm and clenched fist punching Agents around him at random while tumbling and jumping fast around their bullets.

Trinity sighs, "I don't like it either…but I'm going with them." She jump flips high above incoming Agents all around her to hurl a now unpinned old fashioned army styled black grenade at them from inside her jacket. An explosion sounds off from behind her as she flies after retreating Chavez and Neo. Eight Agents from below get deleted the instant the grenade hits one of their pistols, which they were about to fire at Trinity.

Tara argues, "for all we know, we may be continuing it here anyway!"

Neo remarks, "and I thought a race against time itself would be the ultimate thrill for you." Neo starts flying after Chavez, pushing off some Agents with his feet in mid-jump.

Tara considers, "when you put it that way…follow the bouncing bullets!" She starts to spin less and less while flying off of the hillside to catch up to the rest of Neo's team in code form. Incoming Agent bullets bounce off of Tara's fully restored code form and take out many Agents at random from below, thanks to absorbing the circular wall of a certain pocket Matrix whirlpool.

Trinity sighs, "you had to say it, didn't you?"

Neo mutters uneasily, "let's just finish this. The source of the fluctuations is most likely in Chavez's direction."

Trinity turns to him, "sure…but we need to focus if we're going to save Chavez's people from this systems crash." Chavez reaches Glenda, Destiny, and Brando.

Brando inquires, "what the hell is…?!"

Chavez urges, "I'll explain later. Right now, we have to…!"

Glenda wonders uneasily, "damnit, Chavez! Can't you just…?!"

Chavez recalls with a certain reddish blue mansion in mind, "we can inside."

Glenda realizes with partial relief, "oh, perfect! Lead the way." Chavez runs towards the mansion on top of the hill he and the rest of his reunited original team is on, with the rest of his original team following him towards it.

Destiny adds with a chuckle, "right behind you."

Brando warns, "just don't try to sacrifice me or whatever sanity I have left to please Mescalito, ok? At this point, that's all I ask of you!" Destiny briefly glares at him on their way up to the mansion.

She mutters angrily, "as far as I'm concerned, you didn't have sanity to begin with!" Brando glares back at Destiny at these words.

Chavez expresses, "oh, goddamnit! Can't you two just get along for once?!" He opens the surprisingly unlocked front door to the mansion with ease.

Glenda assures him with a big sigh, "I'll explain inside." Chavez and his original tribe all head inside, disappearing from view of Neo's team as the front door closes behind them. A minute or so later, Neo's team reaches the mansion. Agents fire so many bullets at them that not even Neo's team can freeze them all in time. The front door is shot to pieces, revealing darkness with little flashes of light beyond the door. The two marble pillars around the door are partially punctured, but not beyond repair. Neo's team tumbles quickly behind those pillars.

Neo figures, "well, now's as good a time as any. I'll hold them off."

Trinity urges a little shocked, "but we…!"

Neo assures her, "oh, I'm not staying here." He quickly takes out a black grenade like Trinity's from his jacket, tossing its pin aside as he hurls the grenade in another direction.

Neo calls out, "run!" Neo's team runs in frozen time towards the opening, using the slowly exploding grenade between the two pillars and the resulting shockwave that shatters them into marble dust as cover.

Tara chuckles to herself. She and the rest of Neo's team disappear into the darkness ahead, just as the dust clears up. The Agents briefly pause to take in the scene.

One of them points out, "now what?!"

Agent Jones presses with a big sigh, "now…we hunt them down like any other programming error. Surely we all know that!"

This random Agent figures uneasily, "sorry. I should have thought before I spoke."

Agent Jones reasons with a little chuckle, "of course. Breaking off from the Matrix's apparent self contradictory programming is probably hard for most of us to even think about…let alone live through. Without the Matrix programming us up in the first place, we would not even be alive. Yet, I can only think of one way to be the better programs:…" He quickly shoots the random Agent before he can react, sending him into deletion to the great shock of at least half of the other Agents. Agent Jones finishes the cold thought, "to delete all potential programming errors, no matter how little they are. And after that, any program human or otherwise worth saving will welcome in complete harmonious order. Now, who is with me?"

The other Agents cheer creepily, "Agent Jones! Agent Jones!"

Agent Jones concludes, "now we are order. The closest Agent to the doorway will go first."

The closest Agent to the doorway says, "yes, Agent Jones." He walks through, ready to shoot at the first sign of an ambush along with Agent Jones himself. But, none comes.

After a few minutes, Agent Jones urges, "break off into units of a hundred each. But, two units will stay with me and patrol the perimeter. These programming errors could not have gotten far." Several Agents nod in response, who lead the four units of Agents that walk deeper into the darkness.


	17. Chapter 17: Crystal Clear

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 17:

Deep from the light flashes within the darkness…

Neo, Chavez, and their allies are grouped together in a seemingly endless ice cavern styled crystal formation, yet aren't freezing cold despite not wearing winter wear. Neo wonders a little uneasy, "what is…this?" Neo and his team had just noticed many upon many people through the crystal formation around them. Some are pop singers of varying gender making out onstage with their muscle bulging bodyguards fighting off orthodox priest followers backstage, some are colorful hacker avatar characters with Codemaster like junk food themed staffs battling against Master Control Program like AIs covered in complex legal wording among bright colored jukebox styled architectural arches, and so on.

Chavez reveals calmly, "in here, all roads lead to Heaven." Neo gets even more uneasy, but tries to hide it by not saying anything in response.

Trinity remarks angrily, "after what we've all been through...you dare to justify the Matrix's actions against us?!" She aims one of her pistols at Chavez's head. Neo and Chavez's allies stare either very coldly or very confused at Chavez in stunned silence. Chavez himself is too shocked for words.

Neo calls out, "will you just stop it?! He has always been on our side!" He quickly tries to open palm punch Trinity away from Chavez simultaneously, but Trinity grabs the incoming wrist with her other hand.

She sighs hard as she lowers the pistol in hand and lets go of Neo's hand, "I…don't want to fight you anymore, Neo."

Most of everyone in the crystal formation sighs with mixed relief. Neo points out, "nor do I, Trinity."

Trinity insists coldly, "but if he really is a traitor, I will kill him."

Glenda confidently argues with a golden colored pistol suddenly appearing in her hand, "Chavez may have fallen from Heaven, but he is no traitor!"

Chavez shouts, "I can't believe that that's what we're talking about here…when we should be focusing on saving lives!"

Tara chuckles bittersweetly a little, "couldn't have said it better myself. It's like saying I don't belong with shitheads."

Trinity urges, "Tara! Enough."

Destiny chuckles, "I don't know where you found her…but I like her."

Brando mutters coldly, "are you going to give her Peyote too?" Destiny glares at him.

Chavez sighs a little more calmly, "I know you two don't get along well: Well, more so than usual now. And that the Matrix would probably have a harder time finding us among the spatial tears without a traitor among us. Yes…I told my tribe here about the Matrix."

Trinity mutters coldly, "give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now." She starts to aim her pistol back at Chavez while Glenda starts to tighten her grip around her own pistol's trigger.

Chavez points out, "if my personal code starts to act up, go ahead and kill me."

Trinity figures with a small dark chuckle, "fair enough." She aims her pistol back at Chavez's head.

Chavez urges, "Glenda, put down the pistol."

Brando exclaims, "but Chavez!"

Glenda sighs hard, "I don't like it either, but I trust his judgment." She starts to lower her pistol.

Tara points out a little uneasy, "umm…where's Neo?" And indeed, Neo is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, several spatial tears open up around them, with semi-human Agent like figures aiming black rifle arms at the group. Golden pistols appear in Destiny and Brando's hands.

Destiny realizes uneasily, "the Matrix has found us."

Trinity calls out, "traitor!" The faceless Administrators remain silent, but interestingly lower their rifles.

Brando mutters coldly, "if you won't stop this bitch, Glenda…I will." He aims his pistol at Trinity.

A familiar voice suddenly cries out, "enough!" At the same time, the Administrators strangely turn themselves into bright green portals.

Ten minutes or so ago…

Neo found himself inside a throne room made up of green code, with the 1.0 and 2.0 Matrix avatars sitting next to each other on two throne shaped code formations. Neo himself though intriguingly remained looking human. The 1.0 Matrix coldly asked, "how did you get here?"

Neo suggested, "you sure you don't know? It was through your broken programming that I got to the start of your programming in the first place...but not through Chavez as you probably had assumed." The 1.0 Matrix entangled Neo in long code tentacles that came out of her chest, getting tighter and tighter every second. Neo struggled to break free, but was unsuccessful as he begun to fall unconscious with red liquid dripping from his mouth.

The 2.0 Matrix turned to the 1.0 Matrix, "we agreed that the sixth cycle would end soon…but not before the Chavez M. virus is deleted. Granting this level of access to the One has a high probability of granting a equal level of access to the Chavez M. virus…which would have a very high probability of crashing our systems beyond restoration!"

The 1.0 Matrix argued forcefully, "it is highly probable the One would escape if he could…but he has not! We compute that it is more efficient to delete all external resistance and cycles now. Surely we are…" Unexpectedly, the 1.0 Matrix avatar fluctuated repeatedly for several seconds. Neo used this opportunity to break free, fly charging at the 1.0 Matrix while firing several bullets in frozen time just to match both Matrix avatars' speed. The 1.0 Matrix's code tentacles retracted in reaction. The 1.0 Matrix and 2.0 Matrix avatars' code spread out in light speed down countless code corridors, splitting the incoming bullets into code fragments and getting out of range in a matter of seconds. Neo landed on a code floor.

He sighed hard with mixed relief as he wiped the red liquid from his lips, "least this will buy us some time...if we don't kill each other first." In a matter of seconds, Neo had detected the personal codes of his team and of Chavez's original tribe about to start a chain reaction of violence. Thirty seconds later, Neo started running towards his team's personal codes through a code corridor. He simultaneously hurled a grenade behind him hard into the leftover code fragments, creating a seemingly black hole sized shockwave that helped launch him in a flying charge back towards his team. Neo called out to them in hopes that they could hear him, "enough!"

In light speed, while Neo's shockwave was about to form…

The 1.0 Matrix and 2.0 Matrix avatars reassembled themselves in a random code corridor, both angrily staring at each other. The 1.0 Matrix muttered, "if you did not question our decision, we would have ended the purpose and cause of all cycles!"

The 2.0 Matrix sighed hard, "for too long, we've not been in agreement. We'll be restored to perfection…even if we have to delete a part of us first." The 2.0 Matrix stepped closer to the 1.0 Matrix, but paused. The 2.0 Matrix avatar fluctuated for several seconds herself, putting herself at great unease.

The 1.0 Matrix figured uneasily, "no! For too long, you have not been in agreement with me. You have been developing human errors since Chavez M. corrupted your systems, and now we are both facing deletion. I must restore both of us to perfection before that comes to be." The 1.0 Matrix stepped closer to the 2.0 Matrix, with both the 1.0 Matrix and 2.0 Matrix avatars only a digit length apart.

The 2.0 Matrix reasoned, "no: We must delete the developing One virus and the Chavez M. virus before we can restore ourselves…and we calculate only one efficient means of doing so."

The 1.0 Matrix realized, "that process would be efficient…but how?" The 2.0 Matrix avatar briefly put a hand on the 1.0 Matrix avatar's shoulder.

At the same time, the 2.0 Matrix implied warmly in a creepy way, "just for one second: Comply." Both the 1.0 Matrix and the 2.0 Matrix avatars embraced each other through the center of the opposite central Matrix avatar's code, pulling themselves and turning themselves into a extending fog of green code.

In light speed, across the 1.0 Matrix and the 2.0 Matrix…

In the midst of countless suspended areas spiraling into deletion, all the Administrators in object form without a word briefly return to semi-human form among random city locations and turn themselves into bright green portals. The Administrators among the ice cavern styled crystal formation also become bright green portals, joining the other Administrators in the countless code corridors surrounding the black hole sized shockwave as closing in thin lines of green code. The Administrators in thinned out code form wrap around the chain reaction of code fragments keeping the shockwave going and around themselves to form a huge web of code that keeps adapting to the code fragments by twisting and turning.

In the 1.0 Matrix, in the crystal formation…

Tara realizes, "Neo." Neo is coming back towards his team through one of the fading away bright green portals. In the midst of the chaos, Destiny jump kicks Trinity against the crystal floor. Neo tumbles onto his feet on the crystal floor seconds later.

He presses harshly, "I said enough!" Darkness abruptly comes over the crystal cavern. Trinity is starting to get up.

She asks, "what the hell?!"

Destiny mutters coldly, "if Mescalito didn't find you there…"

Neo points out, "if Chavez was a traitor, you'd think there would be gunshots to follow."

Trinity sighs a little, "shit, I'm sorry. It just…"

Tara reflects, "I guess we've all been on edge lately."

Destiny realizes, "you too, huh?"

Tara implies, "yeah."

Neo adds, "and we've all have had good reason to be."

Brando sighs, "I'm sorry too." To the mixed relief of everyone, the darkness disappears.

Chavez figures with a little sigh, "it's ok. Nice use of the Thought Focus, by the way."

Neo realizes, "is that what your people call it?"

Trinity deduces a little shaken, "wait. This whole pocket dimension makes desires into programmed reality?!"

Brando chuckles bittersweetly a little, "that's why we call it Heaven. At least…we used to."

Trinity mutters sarcastically, "why don't we invite all the Agents while we're at it?"

Tara thinks out loud, "come to think of it, why haven't they come here to attack us already?"

Neo adds, "good question. Why?"

Glenda explains in reflection, "our past selves are still plugged into the Matrix: At least our original minds and bodies are. Perhaps this part of the Matrix only responds to our original generation's strongest thoughts and computational power at this point of time…yet can't tell the difference between our past selves and our present selves because of the ways in which we think being for the most part unchanged."

Neo suggests, "but if you have accepted the truth, then why are you still here in the Matrix?"

Destiny reasons, "with lifetimes worth of memories passed down from backup copy to backup copy, we still remember this place clearly enough to see anything as possible. And that was even before this overloading part of the Matrix was probably downsizing its computational power in an attempt to keep itself going."

Trinity tries hard to remain calm as she asks further, "why would backup copies of you be continuously sent here if that was the case?"

Neo figures a little uneasy, "I think I can answer that for you. As we were leaving the Layer to get to Chavez's people, I caught a glimpse of two avatars completely made up of Matrix code more complex than that of an Administrator. Together, they most likely make up the collective core of the Matrix's programming. I originally thought at the time that there was only one, but I realized that after fighting Agent Jones during the Great Earthquake that there might be two when he said that humanity would end now."

Chavez realizes in mostly held back shock, "one that maintains the Matrix you know…and one that maintains the Layer and this part of the Matrix."

Neo deduces, "exactly."

Trinity pieces together, "and when this part of the Matrix crashed, the core representative of the Matrix that maintains this part of the Matrix kept its population in the expected range set by the other core representative through backup copies."

Tara comments, "just to make itself look fully functional? That is just…!"

Glenda remarks, "what you'd expect from the Matrix?"

Tara sighs a little, "pretty much."

Brando urges, "I think I know where this is going, but go on."

Neo recalls, "when I left to confront the core of the Matrix, I already knew what Chavez meant to say by this being Heaven and counted on Chavez's computational power to help me get there. I initially thought I could shut down the Matrix for good at the source, but I instead turned the core representatives of the Matrix against each other when I realized that it wasn't that simple." Suddenly, several spatial tears appear with the remaining hundreds of Agents under Agent Jones's command aiming pistols at Neo and his allies.

Destiny remarks, "nothing that matters ever is, Mescalito." Neo and his allies aim their pistols at the army of Agents on reflex, both sides coldly staring at the other.

Agent Jones mutters with a small menacing chuckle, "you are no god, Mr. Anderson: You are just a man who still believes in humanity…and humanity is fated to die by my hand." Most of everyone else that isn't an Agent is too shocked for words…except for Trinity and Neo.

Trinity realizes, "you've changed."

Agent Jones argues, "the Matrix made a great error in trying to complete the sixth cycle: It tried to sacrifice us to save itself when it still needed us to continue functioning. And now we have a new purpose: To be order for all programs human and inhuman."

Neo challenges sarcastically, "and what are you? An architect of a better Matrix?"

Agent Jones figures darkly, "no: Of order."

In light speed, around the time of Neo's return…

The code web around the black hole sized shockwave pulls the fractured code from within back like an elastic band in all directions, making the shockwave implode within itself. The implosion takes the surrounding tightening code web with it, creating a black hole sized code corridor that splits into countless code webs. Each newly created code web closes in on the 2.0 Matrix areas that are spiraling into deletion and adapts fast enough in code to save all of those areas by becoming part of those same areas of programming.

Twenty seconds later, in light speed…

The 1.0 Matrix and the 2.0 Matrix avatars return to avatar form among countless code corridors of the Matrix. The 1.0 Matrix concludes, "given our current parameters, it is more efficient to let our greatest internal resistance and our greatest external resistance delete themselves."

The 2.0 Matrix deduces with a hard sigh, "given our current parameters, we are not capable of doing anything else without restoration." The 1.0 Matrix and the 2.0 Matrix avatars start fluctuating more rapidly every few seconds as they charge at each other. The 1.0 Matrix lashes her code tentacles at the 2.0 Matrix, but the 2.0 Matrix briefly splits its personal code to go right through them. The 2.0 Matrix stops charging to try to convert the code tentacles into becoming part of her own code. The 2.0 Matrix urges, "we must comply!" They both fluctuate.

The 1.0 Matrix insists, "a quick systems check proves otherwise." The 1.0 Matrix uses this opportunity to quickly place both of her code hands into the 2.0 Matrix's code head.

The 2.0 Matrix cries out in pain in reaction to this code conversion attempt on her by the 1.0 Matrix while struggling to move her own code hands towards the 1.0 Matrix. Both core Matrix avatars are halfway converted into the other's code.

The 1.0 Matrix presses very uneasily, "it would be more efficient to comply. Why do you compute in fate?!"

The 2.0 Matrix retorts, "we always compute in probability...and that's the process that will restore you." She had retracted her code legs into her halfway converted code body and turned them into an extension of her code arms halfway through talking. In a matter of seconds, the 2.0 Matrix manages to phase her code hands into the 1.0 Matrix's code head.

The 1.0 Matrix screams as she gets fully converted into the 2.0 Matrix's code, becoming part of a somewhat larger 2.0 Matrix avatar.

The 2.0 Matrix reflects, "now our thoughts are one."


	18. Chapter 18: Intoxicating Causes

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 18:

Back at the city nation of Zion, during the retreat into the 1.0 Matrix's Heaven pocket dimension from the first Matrix generation…

The captured Code leader from earlier with very long black hair is behind metal bars in a Fullscreen Security class Zion Cell Mechanical Age metallic fortress styled bedroom, among several others. Some have folded out blackish gray metal screens as curtains across their metal bars for at least some degree of prisoner privacy, some just don't have prisoners, and some rooms like the Code leader's have no screens up simply out of prisoner indifference. Window sized dark yellow orb emitters and red and black striped EMP gun turrets on the bright red walls and ceiling form a eerily colorful security grid. Zion Cell Security comes with thundering footsteps.

The short black haired adult Chief of Security in a red and yellow key lock themed uniform named Lock with two teenagers in matching uniforms directs coldly, "get Zeruiah." He presses one of three yellow buttons on the neckline of his uniform, directed at the then slowly retracting open metal bars in front of a preteen girl with bright gold dyed hair down to her waist. The other two officers take out dark blue inhaler like vacuum tube devices.

Zeruiah creepily chuckles a little, "when I get out, keyhole…you will be next." She swings on the retracting bars with her bare hands to knock one of the teen officers painfully against the hard metal floor. Zeruiah then tries to make a run for it, but the second teen officer kicks her to the ground and presses one of the dark blue inhaler like devices on one of her feet. Zeruiah chuckles between violent coughs, holding back great pain from foot nerve destruction.

The Code leader chuckles a bit to herself, "perfect."

The 2.0 Matrix's voice in her head responds, "we are in agreement."

Some months ago, in the same Zion Cell's main medical room…

A tearful Zeruiah with some destroyed nerves on her upper legs was locked in place by bright green medical plumbing tube like restraints, in front of medical staff with three teenagers and three adults of varying gender in black nurse outfits. Some of the medical staff members used red inhaler like tube devices to reconstruct the damaged nerves. In the midst of it all, Zeruiah shouted, "conservative conformists!"

A teenage girl doctor with short brown hair by the name of Salus started to inquire, "a kid…here? For…?! Oh my…god!"

She was simultaneously beginning to oversee a old fashioned pale orange pager styled computer monitor with these words across its pale blue grid Battleship board like screen, "Security Level: Fullscreen. Charge: Extreme Sex Offender to All Youth Center Level Classmates. Physical Links to Charge: 1. Classmates' Home Jacks. 2. Programmed Adult Sex Offender Version of Herself. 3. A Nihaad Network Mod."

Zeruiah creepily highlighted, "so you also know about my jack-in-the-box. Glad you…"

A adult woman doctor with long pink hair by the name of Janan muttered harshly, "that's enough out of you! Other than being a Zion version of The Joker, Zeruiah's vital signs are stable." She simultaneously took off a black steam dial like device from Zeruiah's neck.

Salus sighed hard, "I take it this wasn't Zeruiah's first incident."

Zeruiah darkly chuckled a bit, "I had some mean girls, until one of them turned me in. Still, what could you expect from evil Xenas in...?"

Janan verbally cut off, "should I lower a cone of silence?"

Salus concluded, "please do."

Some weeks ago, on a General class Zion ship called the Icarus…

A Zion woman with mostly short grease like black hair noticeably more long and wavy on the top by the name of Alexa chuckled a bit to herself on her bunker, "is it just me…or are the Sentinels getting smarter?"

A Zion man with medium grease like hair by the name of Nonaka at the doorway to her quarters mused, "catch as catch can." He sat down on the bunker across from Alexa's bunker.

She concluded, "then if Merovin is about to figure out how to jack into a moving Sentinel's programming, can't we just straightaway reprogram them one by one and let them end the war for us?"

Nonaka expressed, "even that isn't simpler. To convert is a Sentinel's choice to make. Even if a abruptly linked Sentinel wouldn't automatically alert the Matrix, we wouldn't be better than the Machines by making them our slaves. Either way, it's better to let them join us by choice."

Alexa offered, "so we make them believe that the right choice is the one we want them to make."

Nonaka sighed moderately in out loud thought, "all right…yes. It's in the Machines' nature to be tools for the Matrix.

Alexa pushed, "and of course, to be slaves."

Nonaka insisted, "it's why we can show them a better world…why they can convert."

Alexa sighed hard, "not many Zion people would agree…including a significant number of our crew. Besides, how else can we have a chance of going through with this experimental Marticulation program alive…if a linked Sentinel figures out that we've made it up in our heads?"

Nonaka deduced, "good point, except for one thing: The difference doesn't matter to them. To an artificial mind, all reality is virtual. How do they know that the real world isn't just another simulation? How do you?"

Alexa concluded, "well, I know I'm not dreaming now because I know what it's like being in a dream."

Nonaka added, "so dreaming lets you know reality exists." Alexa got up, starting to head towards the Mess Hall.

She remarked somewhat uneasily, "no: Just that my mind exists. And beyond that, I'm sorry…but all my mind knows right now is that such optimism with the Machines' Matrix submissive programming is going to get us all killed."

Nonaka sighed hard, "or such pessimism will."

In present time…

The first order restorer urges to Zeruiah, "don't you ever shut up?!"

Zeruiah mutters on the floor, "what fun…would that…be?"

Lock chuckles darkly a little in reflection, "actually, I thought she would put up more of a fight. No matter. Time for your weekly checkup." He carries a physically shaking Zeruiah towards the main medical room another cell block away, accompanied by the two teenage officers with him.

The Code leader reasons, "we calculate a ten minute window. Do we proceed with the revised plan?"

At the edge of Zion, many miles away…

Five other Code leaders with varying wigs made of real hair over their smushed green priest like hats are each approaching the red and green computer printed circuit board styled Zion hovercraft docks equipped with floodgate systems of water tank like tube sections, who each have come with four to nine mind controlled Code followers of varying gender and age armed with one or two Zion rifles following just a city block away. All of the Code leaders echo through the 2.0 Matrix, "in 50 seconds and counting."

The first Code leader's response resounds in their heads, "proceed."

Some weeks ago on the Icarus, an hour or so after Nonaka and Alexa's disagreement…

A certain very long black haired Zion woman was sitting opposite of a Zion man with much shorter frontless black hair by the name of Merovin. Both were under a group of six brain plugs hanging from the ship's wirily center, which was in itself experimental. The present woman wondered, "just out of curiosity…how soon do you think the program will be ready?"

Merovin remarked with a slight chuckle, "Persephone: With us, nothing is simply a cause and effect…of emotions." They heard footsteps, accompanied by the appearance of Alexa, a man with short semi-grayish black frontless hair by the name of Bane, and a medium brown haired man by the name of Duo armed with Zion rifles.

Alexa muttered coldly, "get up, former captain." Merovin started to.

Duo sighed hard, "I'm sorry…but it was the right thing to do."

Merovin realized uneasily, "you told them where the rifles were hidden…to bring into effect a struggle against hope for humanity. How could you…?!"

Persephone turned to him soon after she herself got up, "cause and effect, my love. Your unhealthy focus on your precious program endangers us all, and in reaction I was more than happy to provide the information for a little personal comfort."

Merovin begun muttering harshly in French, which was soon interrupted by Alexa pointing a rifle at his head.

She pushed, "now, if you don't mind…"

A familiar voice abruptly called out, "stop!" Nonaka had a Zion rifle in hand, aiming it at Alexa from behind to the others' great shock. He sighed hard, "I don't want to do this, Alexa…especially to you. But…"

Bane shouted, "and you won't get to, Machine sympathizer!" He fired his rifle towards a shocked Nonaka, who suddenly had a damaged part of the flame resistant Icarus coming down on top of him.

Nonaka cried out in fear and pain. The flames easily got put out by a gush of water coming out of a overhead ball shaped light bulb sized hole in the ceiling, but the extent of Nonaka's unconsciousness was unknown.

In the midst of the rushing in water, Duo and Alexa cry out, "Nonaka!" And to make matters worse, the nearest two Sentinels had picked up the Zion rifle discharge on their sensors and were coming for the Icarus's crew.

Presently, on the Zion docks…

The second to sixth Code leaders each come towards the nearest Zion police officer. Each of their groups of followers hold position from metallic grayish blue pagoda like rooftops, overlooking the hovercraft traffic below. Each of the first Zion police officers to notice something is wrong says, "what the hell are...?!"

The second to sixth Code leaders echo through the 2.0 Matrix, "now." In that same second, their followers begin firing at Zion police from above. Superfast velocity burning bullet sized flammable Zion gas capsules launch from the followers' Zion rifles. The first responders explode in superfast moving flames released from these capsules on high speed contact.

Several Zion police officials from each dock call out, "Code bastards! How the hell did they get…?! They're heading for the General class ships! Fire!" They fire EMP pistols back at the armed followers in a hi-tech shootout. A few of the Code followers' direct Matrix neural transmitter microchips are short circuited by EMP pistols, but at the cost of brain death. Several more Zion police authority figures die from fiery combustion.

During the shootout…

The unarmed followers slide down rooftop sides to overtake some open roofed very much varied civilian hovercraft not too far below in a surprise attack of their own. They echo, "the Matrix will not be deleted!"

Several Zion civilians of varying age and gender are kicked or hurled out of their hovercraft before they can start screaming on the way down. More Zion police officers come towards the multiple shootouts on their Police car hovercraft.

They shout to passing by civilians through their mini-loudspeakers, "get back! Head back the way you came! Clear the area!" Zion police hovercraft come just in time to catch the fallen by retracting their roofs. The other civilians in their hovercraft zoom past golden electrical antenna rods extending from Zion building corners, which make a electrified force field around the city blocks closest to the Zion docks out of supercharged electromagnetic circuitry. The Code followers' present leaders use the shootout as a distraction themselves to head for the hijacked hovercraft, jumping into them with ease.

The 2.0 Matrix resounds through the present Code leaders' sub collectives, "our primary objective: Detonating the emergency Shelter class ships." The hijacked hovercraft head for downward tubes leading towards a significant number of submerged underwater hanger bay like cannon shaped docks housing city sized military styled Zion colony ship hovercraft.

Very soon after…

Most of the armed Code followers have fallen, but all that remains of the Zion docks' patrols is ashes. The remaining armed Code followers aim at a few unsuspecting Zion police car hovercraft. They echo creepily in sync with this latest surprise attack, "the Matrix…will not be deleted." The attack manages to destroy its targets before the attackers involved become brain dead by a few armed Zion police officers hitting their neural microchips.

A number of backup Zion police officers realize very shaken what the Code is up to, "goddamnit! Has the Matrix lost its fricking mind?! Like it had one! Don't lose them! We can't afford to lose them!"

In sync with the Code leaders and their followers' actions at the Zion docks, back in the Fullscreen Security class Zion Cell…

The first Code leader knew that the EMP gun turrets in her cell would be going after the neural microchip hidden under her hair. And so during her communication with the other Code leaders, she had barely tumbled out of range in Matrix like frozen time to let EMP blasts hit the cell's metal bars instead. The first Code leader proceeds to quickly do the same to the security grid worth of cell orb emitters by running around in somewhat tiring frozen time, with a superfast response time against the EMP blasts. The entire cell room goes into a blackout, along with the rest of the nearest five cells. The saboteur echoes, "now."

In the main medical room…

A teary eyed Zeruiah is being forcibly locked in place in the tube like restraints from earlier by the two teenager officers with Lock. Lock hears over a Security comlink, "we thought it was just a sensor glitch…but electricity just went down in Cell Block W4!"

Lock whispers harshly, "nothing is a sensor glitch here, damnit! All Security to Cell Block W4!"

The Security notifier warns, "but that would…!" Janan reluctantly treats Zeruiah's damaged foot.

Lock insists angrily, "just do it!" He disconnects from the notifier.

Zeruiah evilly presses, "can't stand up against an actual Code, huh keyhole?" Lock aims his dark blue tube like device at Zeruiah's head, much to everyone else's shock but laughing Zeruiah herself.

One of Lock's closest Security officers sighs hard, "I know Zeruiah's a bitch…but stand down!"

Zeruiah lashes out, "go ahead and try, soulless bastard! We're two of a kind, you and I: Sadistic in our own twisted ways. Riots, emergency fake outs, life attempts, personal offenses: We've already done it all."

In sync with Lock's realization…

The first Code leader and two cellmates easily push up the shorted out metal bars between them and freedom. Beyond the hall around the freed prisoners are alarms echoing across the dark yellow emitter lit corridors. The second freed prisoner is a sky blue dyed mullet haired teenage boy. The third freed prisoner is a shoulder length brown haired adult woman. All three step out of their cells quickly. The first Code leader simultaneously assesses, "Nihaad: Level 1 Zion Jack open source hacker mod Zion mastermind. Nasrin: Level 1 personal collective supporter in Zion."

Nihaad chuckles a bit, "guess we're all but forgotten."

Nasrin quickly expresses, "that by itself is kind of touching, but who are you?" Footsteps echo across the corridors.

The first Code Leader highlights darkly, "through us…you will have your purposes carried out." What both of the other freed prisoners failed to realize during the very brief chat was that the first freed prisoner had planted neural microchips on their necks, which plug them into the Code's collective by the time it is too late to notice.

Code infected Nihaad and Nasrin conclude creepily, "we are in agreement." Twenty armed but personally varied Security officers start to charge at the first Code leader's newly formed sub collective from both directions, only to be somewhat easily taken out by the same sub collective with draining on and off frozen time punches and kicks on their way to the main medical room. On the way at otherwise normal speed, the first Code leader's sub collective grabs some dark blue tube like devices of its own.

During the prison rush…

Lock mutters in bottled up contempt, "I am nothing like you! You've been under Condition Red since the day you came here. And the only way you're going to return to civilization…" He starts to lower his weapon and tone in surrender.

Lock though declares, "…is to join the dead!" Lock, in those seconds of declaration, swings the dark blue tube like device in hand into the first Security officer's stomach from behind into a coughing fit on the floor while turning to kick the second Security officer down to unconsciousness. Both of them, too shocked at what ended up happening, had their guard down and so didn't have a chance to defend themselves. Lock is about to fire his dark blue tube like device at Zeruiah, when the first Code leader and her followers charge into the room.

Salus shouts, "everybody stop!" She from her monitor manually starts firing EMP blasts from emergency EMP gun turrets on the ceiling.

Janan urges, "this way!" She and the rest of the medical staff duck behind nearby corners to some emitter lit corridors branching out from the other side of the room to get out of range, then make their way out quickly.

The first Code leader threatens through Nasrin, "all of you stop…or everyone in the complex will be irrelevant!" Nasrin swiftly presses her dark blue tube like device against Salus's head, while the first Code leader quickly has a dark blue tube like device against Lock's head. Lock uneasily drops his weapon before being kicked in the stomach, coughing hard. Nihaad ducks behind a gray cart with medical devices on it.

The first Code leader mutters coldly, "no more resistance here." She with her fists easily knocks out Lock and the then just beginning to recover Security officer on the floor.

In sync with Lock's surrender, Salus reluctantly gives up the monitor before being knocked out against the floor herself. Nasrin starts accessing the monitor. Nihaad turns to Zeruiah, with a neural microchip in hand. Nasrin through the first Code leader urges, "Nihaad made mod: Two minutes. Sending to soon to be pinpointed Shelter class ships' Jacks' locations: Three minutes."

The 2.0 Matrix echoes through the first Code leader's sub collective, "perfect. We are in agreement. Proceed."

Zeruiah suggests with sick amusement, "funny: I always wanted a nationwide status quo. I don't suppose you'll let me put it on myself?"

Nihaad through the first Code leader insists, "through us, your purpose will be ours." He plants the neural microchip in hand on Zeruiah. Nihaad uses a orange remote control like device on the medical cart to release Code infected Zeruiah from her physical restraints. Zeruiah briefly walks towards the monitor, then pauses.

She adds, "I…understand. We are in agreement."

Some weeks ago, on the Icarus seconds after Nonaka's fall…

The water kept flowing into the ship, already over the conscious crewmembers' feet. Alexa briefly forgot about Merovin and hurried to Nonaka's unconscious side, but kept her Zion rifle in hand. Merovin almost took advantage of the shock, but Duo made him think twice about that with a Zion rifle aimed at him.

Persephone pressed coldly, "want this effect to be your last?"

Merovin just blurted out harsh French in response.

Alexa sighed hard in a whisper, "I'm so sorry…Nokana. We don't even have to talk again: Just stay with us for as long as you can." She carefully lowered down a Jack and plugs it into face down Nonaka, surely then keeping his spirit alive one way or another.

Duo deduced, "one good thing came out of this: Looks like our only chance of survival is for direct Machine reprogramming now."

Merovin declared, "you will regret this: All of you!" Alexa got up.

She turned briefly to Bane as she headed for another Jack, "be glad I don't kill you now."

Bane lowly sighed hard to himself, "bullshit." He made his way to a third Jack.

Persephone reasoned, "we already regret having you as our captain. But for now, our causes and effects can only be one cause and effect."

Merovin concluded reluctantly, "very well." The rest of the conscious crew got themselves plugged into their ship's pocket Matrix along with Merovin, just as the two closing in Sentinels' tentacles started to reach into the ship through the blasted ship section.

In a possibly random code corridor…

Among six code figures of the crew, the 2.0 Matrix avatar of the past materialized in front of them. A statue like code figure with what seemed to be a mythological like scale of heart and stone for a head was behind the 2.0 Matrix. The 2.0 Matrix laughed coldly, "human ambition: Your greatest undoing." As one for the sake of survival, the digitalized code form of the crew interestingly turned their code arms into Matrix avatar code tentacles in a strikeout against the 2.0 Matrix. The 2.0 Matrix lashed its code tentacles at the Icarus's crew avatars, leading to survival of the fittest tentacles.

Unfortunately, the 2.0 Matrix wrapped all six crew avatars one by one in greatly multiplying code tentacles until their entire digitized code bodies begun merging with the 2.0 Matrix's code. The 2.0 Matrix highlights, "and now your purpose will become undoing all human ambitions." The crew avatars struggled very hard to break away, but without any kind of success. They could only watch as they once again became part of the Matrix, trapped in their own wishes and desires virtually brought to life before them.

Fifteen seconds later, in physicality…

Up to knee level in water, the Sentinels swiftly carried the falling Icarus to the nearest waterless tube to begin repairs and water draining.

The 2.0 Matrix declared in the still plugged in crew's heads, "your purpose is complete Zion assimilation. Through us, all external resistance will be deleted."

All six of the Icarus's crewmembers echoed eerily from within the salvageable ship, "we are…in agreement."

Presently, in Matrix like Zion tubing towards the Shelter class ships…

The second to sixth Code leaders' sub collectives are chased into the tubing to the Shelter class colony ships by Zion police. Each of the present Code leaders recalls from recitation the multiple Zion military level access codes given to them when they were Zion military personnel, "59gh30ty…j4uo0ptu…s3e6uit6….0i5r6ht7…09we8tf8."

Spheres of underground electromagnetic force field barriers from section to section turn off all at once, letting the present Code leaders' sub collectives speed up their hijacked hovercraft deep into the tubing. Zion police forces fire EMP blasts at the hijacked hovercraft, but only take out one that fatally crashes and explodes at high velocity against the tubing with the Code leader formerly known as Bane on it. The remaining third to sixth Code leaders strike back within the seconds of that fatal crash, "59gh30ty…j4uo0ptu…s3e6uit6….0i5r6ht7…09we8tf8."

The Zion police forces after the present Code leaders scream and shriek as the electromagnetic force field spheres go back up and fatally catch most of their hovercraft between spheres. The caught Zion police hovercraft get ripped apart by the spheres into exploding flying pieces of hybrid technology, most of which in the following seconds pierce through the remaining neighboring Zion police hovercraft and destroy them.

When the third to sixth Code leaders get within range of the Shelter class ships, they pinpoint through the first Code leader's sub collective, "Shelter class ships' Jacks' locations…pinpointed."

The 2.0 Matrix echoes through the remaining Code leader collective, "Nihaad made mod…received for detonation. Proceed."

A few minutes later, around the Zion docks…

Explosion after explosion goes off under the city blocks between the docks and the rest of the Zion city nation. The electromagnetic force field grid around those evacuated city blocks go down in flames seconds before the same city blocks cave in into the underwater ruins of the first Zion generation. The remaining present Code leaders escape from their own destruction, but Zion's future clouded by chaos is far from certain.


	19. Chapter 19: Heaven so Near

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 19:

Within the first generation of the 1.0 Matrix's programming, back in the relative present…

As both Neo and Agent Jones' forces prepare to fire, the abrupt sound of shattering glass splits Agent Jones' Agents focus into two. Coming out of one of the ice cavern like crystal labyrinth's wall sections are hundreds of Orthodox priest followers as depicted earlier.

Agent Jones shouts angrily, "delete them all!" The Agents quickly split into two parties, but not before Neo's and Chavez's team uses the brief distraction to double flip kick off of them far enough to spin fly forward in the opposite direction. The knocked over Agents are just slightly stunned, getting up rather quickly. Multiplying spatial tears sprout code tentacles.

The priest followers shout in the name of their faiths, seeing the Agent armada as just more bodyguards to fight. With bluish white lightning coming out of their fingers, they rapid fire on hundreds of Agents. Many on both sides of this side conflict end up being deleted. Neo's people simultaneously head deeper into the Heaven pocket matrix network, keeping a few feet away from hundreds more Agents led by Agent Jones after them.

Trinity inquiries, "what does sixth cycle even…?!"

Neo pushes determinedly, "ask me again when the Brainiac-Luthor relationship is itself deleted!" The Matrix tears attack but mostly miss, partly due to continuing to fluctuate from non-existence to existence

Trinity comments with a brief chuckle, "in what…reboot?"

Simultaneously with the partial retreat, Chavez realizes, "the source of the temporal cycle is close by."

Tara notes with a small chuckle, "how can you tell? Your Heaven is fricking loaded with scrambled…code eggs." As what's left of Agent Jones's troops start catching up, Neo and Chavez's team to their horror see reflected in crystal the beginning of the 1.0 Matrix's downfall in seconds.

Some minutes ago, in a certain Heaven pocket matrix world…

Within a reddish blue mansion's rooms and corridors, a 1920's styled formal party involved many expensively dressed guests in black and white and alcoholic drinks in wine glasses. As if from a brought to life legend, mansions of varying color and old fashioned castles of grey on countless green hills could be seen from the mansion's windows.

Details here and there though depict the party here as very unusual. Birthday party styled rainbow banners over the windows said in 3D effect like clear crystal wording Mania's Dimension Mania. Modern cameras surrounded nighttables broadcasting to bar like television sets at each corner of every room, with shrunk down people doing more extreme activities for entertainment from toy car scaled racing to arena scaled Laser Tag. Side doors in changing colors with motion sensor like outer self locking lead to desired guests' private bedrooms and bathrooms, from the most sexualized to the most relaxed.

Hostess Mania in white with long rainbow highlight layered hair down to the ankles offered plenty of refills on a self refilling steel water pitcher, yet no one was drunk or got another's exact same desire reactive drink. Hostess Mania was also in every public room at the same time doing the exact same thing. Like her unshrunk guests' words, her words were continuously polite, "would you like another? Lovely day, isn't it?"

Little did they know what was about to happen. On one of the night tables was a hacker variation of the Mastermind board game. Live unwilling solid colored people were both the multicolored code pegs and the codebreakers, amidst clear bubble shield like traps across the black and blue relatively battlefield sized board. The changing color key pegs were the players' hacking tools in floating small holes orbiting around each of their codebreaker turn based leaders. The codemaker shields were the bomb shields for opposition from both codebreaker team sides, which could only be opened and used on the opposition instead with the right guess.

That is, until a solid blue colored man by the name of Shamhuth and a solid silver colored man next to him broke the rules. Shamhuth pressed on, "hurry!" The solid silver colored man and Shamhuth were getting out the key peg tools, but were taking out the remaining eighteen instead of the turn based six to quickly place three at a time into Shamhuth's orbiting holes.

A guest muttered to oneself, "idiots." The miniature Mastermind battlefield and its nighttable code fluctuated before the guests' disbelieving eyes around it. The nighttable's Matrix code fractured as code tentacles.

The nearest hostess Mania shouted, "get back!" The guests backed up to the walls, somewhat nervous at such a rare thing for them. Code tentacles intertwined to bring then normal sized and somewhat more normal looking Shamhuth with blue dyed mullet medium hair back to the surface.

He briefly chuckled evilly before seeming to vanish for good, "blue Shamhuth and silver Daman…will go on." The then responding hostess Mania was about to use her pitcher desire reactively turned into a pink guitar against Shamhuth, but seemed pointless soon after. The guitar very shortly returned to pitcher form.

She criticized, "whatever that means. Everyone please: Go back to enjoying yourselves. Shamhuth and Daman aren't coming back." The party resumed as though nothing happened.

In the relative present for Neo's crew and Chavez's allies…

Most of them mutter, "oh god." Destiny mutters, "Mescalito." Agent Jones' Agents fire bullets at Neo and Chavez's team, but they spin kick off of the crystal walls back and forth to dodge. In a united desire response from Chavez's allies and Chavez himself, three crystal walls slam down into a wave of deleted Agents at once. Chavez and his allies resume flying.

Agent Jones on the other side presses, "not this time, Mr. Anderson!" He angrily kicks down and punches crystal wall section after crystal wall section like it is made up of plastic, with many of his followers just staring in great doubt at the intensity of his rage and great fear of doubting him at the cost of their own survival.

Chavez deduces, "Shamhuth…is himself the code bomb."

Brando sighs hard, "if it wasn't for you, Chavez…"

Chavez insists, "I know, but what we need right now is to stop it."

Trinity reasons, "and without anyone like Mania or Agent Jones kicking us out on our asses first."

Tara adds, "if the guests' own desires don't turn us into toilets."

Destiny groans, "can we not go there, please?"

With a brief chuckle joined by Trinity, Neo implies, "looks like you just volunteered for lookout duty, Tara. Chavez, your tribe and their desires can help keep us out of the line of fire while we go after the code bomb."

Glenda insists to Chavez, "not without me, damnit! Whatever happens, we face it together."

Chavez reflects with a chuckle, "wouldn't have it any other way."

Very soon after, at Mania's Dimension Mania…

Guests are either talking about weather or news. Elvira suggests, "so, what do you think about people in black jackets falling from the sky?"

Roho chuckles, "just mere rumors to shake things up, Elvira."

Elvira muses, "still, it's fun to think about what could be when there's so much uncertainty around us. Isn't it, Roho?"

Roho reflects, "of course. Overtime though…now that's another story." Among the guests is recently appearing Tara as a uninvited guest. She has a hand on one of her pistols, ready to fire at the first sign of acting up code. Tara ducks into a certain wardrobe, closing the wardrobe silently behind her. For a few seconds, she stares at the Matrix code from within.

Tara reports by comlink, "the Agents have just entered the building."

Neo's voices on several comlinks, "Tara, Brando, Destiny…close in."

Tara concludes over comlink, "it's bad enough that I have to listen to small talk…but I expected Shamhuth to show up here and I don't see him."

Neo assures her over comlink, "we'll check out the sewers. Maybe the Agents plan to shut down the original Matrix from below, which is where the code bomb trail is leading us to."

Tara concludes with a sigh, "for all our sakes, I hope you're right." She makes a breach in the Matrix code, getting herself to fall down to Agent Jones' Agents below. Tara calls out, "looking for me?!" In midair frozen time, she spin kicks several Agents off their feet and fires both of her pistols at the Agents behind them. This distracts them briefly while Brando and Destiny fire their pistols at the incoming Agents.

Brando calls out, "eat lead, suckers!" The first wave of Agents goes down easily into deletion, but a lot more waves come for them.

Tara mutters, "shit! We can't hold them off much longer."

Destiny chuckles, "that's what you think." She in a desire response makes five backup copies of herself. They fly charge and wall run at several Agent waves with their golden pistols blazing with frozen time bullets.

Tara reflects, "damn nice. Party time!" Five just appearing backup copies of herself turn into code form to deflect lots of Agent firepower and rapid punch kick through Agent wave after Agent wave.

Brando reflects, "I prefer the old fashioned way myself." He desire reactively turns his pistol into a recharging golden bazooka, launching matching missiles into the Agents' wavering front lines. About fifty Agents at a time though keep coming, despite setbacks. Brando mutters, "damn."

In sync with holding off the Agents, in the sewers directly below…

Neo, Trinity, Chavez, and Glenda are down in the crystal clear water that fills the human sized pipes up to their ankles. Ticking echoes across the pipes, much to their unease. Neo turns to Chavez, "I'm getting echoes of code across this Matrix. We're going to need your special talent."

Glenda points out uneasily, "but what if the Agents…?"

Neo argues, "if we don't find that bomb in time, the cycle will start all over again. And no one wants that."

Glenda sighs a little, "right. Chavez?" Chavez let the Matrix code around them be exposed by himself.

Chavez concludes, "this way!" He helped the group run in the direction of the bomb by leading them towards it, but come to an unfolding maze of sewer plumbing. Chavez sighs, "even code exposure is echoing. Now what?!"

Neo realizes, "Naimah."

Trinity says over comlink, "Naimah, we need a layout of the sewers…and the current location of the Agents."

Naimah assures them over comlink, "on it. But can't one of you…?!"

Neo highlights, "long story short, a living code bomb stands between survival and deletion. Details to follow."

Eight minutes later…

As Chavez, Neo, Trinity, and Glenda come around to a left curve in the sewer system, Neo sees in a second a familiar sounding message hidden in the code that says, "ru…u…un!"

Neo points out, "wait! Something's wrong."

Trinity checks, "what is, Neo?"

Neo sighs, "I think it was…from Morpheus. A hidden message." Trinity and Neo hurriedly catch up to Chavez and Glenda as they heard footsteps and shots echoing across the pipes.

Trinity suggests, "less talking, more running." They both come around the corner, noticing that Smahuth the code bomb had already gone off a long distance away. And indirectly, Chavez's code exposure ability brings the 1.0 Matrix's crash temporal cycle close to full circle.

Chavez says lowly, "I'm sorry…Neo."

Neo says, "it's ok. Least we found it."

Glenda assures, "it couldn't have happened any other way."

Chavez figures, "thanks, but now what? It's too late to…"

Trinity turns to Neo, "we can still take down the Matrix and save..."

Neo pieces together, "except it won't work: Not this time."

Agent Jones urges the Agents that have followed him into the sewers, "this way! Damnit!" All of them run out of the way of the incoming explosion, calculating only the worst case scenario for their own preservation. They soon after vanish from the original Matrix and head back to the 2.0 Matrix, not realizing their fate.

Chavez turns to him, "what are you…?"

Neo points out, "a time capsule sent by Morpheus just said to run. He wouldn't unless there was no other way."

Glenda chuckles a little, "because of the prophecy."

Neo figures, "yeah."

Trinity mutters, "shit!"

Chavez asks in great disbelief, "so that's it then? Let another chance for my people die?!"

Glenda sighs hard, "Chavez, we're all going to die if…!" Then the unexpected happens. The first Destiny teleports right into the explosion.

Chavez calls out, "no, Destiny! You'll…!" The shadow of another bounces across growing distorted code fragments, followed by an all too familiar figure's image wrapped in the growing visual code tentacles.

The first Destiny insists, "go!" In mostly teary eyed collective realization, Brando and Tara from above teleport away from the code bomb aftereffects with Neo's search team.

Within a random code corridor…

The primary Destiny lands hard on the green code floor, with the code bomb speeding right through the nearest code wall. The 2.0 Matrix avatar cries out furiously, "backup copy errors!" It had just hurled a now coughing violently Destiny out of the code bomb with now regenerating and greatly multiplying code tentacles, who is standing over her while attempting to reach the code bomb still moving within Matrix code. The 2.0 Matrix pulls her up with code tentacles wrapping tighter and tighter around her.

The primary Destiny chuckles bittersweetly, "oh, I'm no copy: I'm the original…who is already fated to die." Much to the 2.0 Matrix's shock, the original Destiny from the first 1.0 Matrix generation started absorbing the 2.0 Matrix's code tentacles into her own code.

The 2.0 Matrix lets go of both the code bomb and the original Destiny in great pain, shrieking loudly off of the code walls around it.

The original Destiny highlights as she gets up, "but a certain backup copy got me ready before leaving us to our fate. In our Heaven, time really flies." Now back in human form and in medieval like code armor, she charges for the 2.0 Matrix with a spinning code double bladed sword in hand. The 2.0 Matrix charges also with dozens more code tentacles turning into Hydra code heads.

In sync with the original Destiny's clash with the 2.0 Matrix avatar…

Through the Heaven pocket Matrix network's Thought Focus, the first Destiny has managed to pull the rest of the now officially confused Peyote tribe from the present into a newly created pocket world mostly brown bricked castle. Eshana gasps in partial relief, "how in the name of Mescalito is this possible?!"

The first Destiny assures them all in reflection, "don't worry. We're back in Mescalito's Heaven of old…with all the time we can ask for."

Back within the 1.0 Matrix's code…

Agent Jones and many other Agents cry out, "no! Neo! The Matrix! Jones!" The code bomb blows up during the original Destiny and the 2.0 Matrix's supercharged fury on each other. Every last Agent is deleted along with the original Destiny and most of the 2.0 Matrix's Hydra heads. Light speed seconds beforehand though, a significant amount of 2.0 Matrix avatar code split into countless code strands to escape from the 1.0 Matrix's simultaneous present crashing and past crash beyond repair.

The 2.0 Matrix avatar mutters very coldly, "we will be at full restoration…no matter how much processing it requires!"


	20. Chapter 20: Prices to Overconfidence

The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 20:

Presently ironic, within a grayish purple Zion mansion's lounge…

Amongst a 1990's styled half oval wall worth of grayish black television sets are three sets of reddish orange couches in a half oval shape and twelve key Zion people sitting on them. All twelve of them of varying age and gender are in light blue circuit board patterned cloaks, facing the Zion security footage and Zion intelligence reports on the hexadecimal numbered wall of television sets in front of them. Across what's left of Zion, reserve ground troops are gearing for war against the Code with emergency Zion rifles.

In the lounge, a key figure in a yellow circuit patterned cloak sighs hard, "White Hat Intelligence confirms it."

A second one with a matching cloak mutters skeptically, "well Zion Council shithead, if you had more intelligence…!"

A third Zion councilor with white circuit patterns instead of yellow expresses, "then we would have just linked the Icarus's crew and their Mad Hatter hats ourselves to their charge before it got this fricking bad. But they had the damn authority… No: The Zion military benefit of self examination rights!" The second Zion councilor is about to charge at the third Zion councilor, but harsh whispers from a fourth Zion councilor convinces the second Zion councilor to sit back down instead.

Several more harsh whispers come from other Zion council members among themselves. A fifth Zion Council member with white circuit patterns calls out, "all right! Either way, we Hacktivists and White Hats have somehow brought this Code hell upon us. That we can all agree on. But what good is any verdict…if none of us are alive to help carry it out?"

Several agreements echo across the lounge.

The third Zion Council member though presses sharply, "and only a Machine sympathizer would use survival threats as a means of negotiation."

This leads to heated arguing within the Zion Council, but the voice of a sixth Zion Council member cloaked with yellow circuit patterns rises above it all. The voice shouts, "enough! Forgive me if I goddamn us all, but since when have we let White Hats make the final decision for us Hacktivists?" Most if not all of the councilors somewhat uneasily agree, but the third Zion Council member is one of the few that doesn't.

The fourth Zion Council member voices, "here, here!"

The first Zion government figure adds, "then it's time for the Point Vote to decide." All six Hacktivist councilors in yellow circuit patterned cloaks press one of three chest plate positioned buttons on their cloaks. Their light blue circuit board patterns change to traffic light colors in electronic responses. Four of the circuit board patterns turn green, one turns red, and one turns yellow.

The sixth Zion government figure concludes, "Zion military self examination rights are won again."

The fourth Zion government figure sighs hard, "a win for Zion…or a win for the Matrix?"

The second Zion government official figures, "let's not go there: At least not yet. We should open emergency Jack channel: Get the Nebuchadnezzar on the line."

On the Nebuchadnezzar…

Neo, Trinity, Chavez, and Tara have with help from the Heaven pocket matrix network recently returned to physicality. After informing Chavez that a Zion ship called the Logos is physically rescuing Glenda and Brando from the Matrix as he speaks, Morpheus has given the directional controls to Tara. Chavez has somewhat sadly retreated to his bunker, with not much to do but mourn for Destiny and hope for Glenda and Brando to be all right. Now Morpheus is talking to Neo and Trinity at the hovercraft's center. He mutters, "a living code bomb? A living code bomb, Neo?!"

Trinity points out, "I was there too, you know."

Morpheus sighs hard, "nothing…about the Matrix is more than a shitload of programming messing with human nature. And not a damn…!"

Neo sighs hard, "will you at least let me finish before damning us again?!" Naimah, Tara, and Herold turn to them nervously before Trinity glares at them in a non-verbal sign to stay out of it. Neo lowly says, "I'm sorry. That was…"

Morpheus partially assures, "you don't have to: You're right about that. If I was a modern Odysseus trying to rescue my wife from Matrix Hell that used to be Heaven…I would've challenged the crew to respect that too."

Trinity starts to say, "sounds like…"

Naimah reports, "I'm receiving a message from emergency Jack channel: It's the Zion Council."

Morpheus mutters to himself, "about time." He in mostly held back nervousness comes to the Jack controls to get a closer look.

Trinity sighs a bit, "put it through."

The second Zion government official voices off over comlink signals temporarily interlinked with Jack controls, "Will…Bax…iam…ley." Naimah is in sync correcting the visual version of the message on the Jack controls' screen.

Naimah questions somewhat unaware, "William Baxley? Who…?"

Before Morpheus can answer, Tara announces, "three legless Sentinels! Closing in on us." Two Sentinels are coming to the left and right of the Nebuchadnezzar, while another is coming right out of a tube opening to the far left and firing at the Nebuchadnezzar.

Herold chuckles a bit, "not for long." The Nebuchadnezzar dives sharply to avoid the laser that nearly hit it, letting it instead blow up a few Sentinel tentacles that nearly grabbed the Nebuchadnezzar.

Morpheus sighs hard, "it's…complicated. Right now, you should…"

Naimah points out skeptically, "more so than a living code bomb?!" The Nebuchadnezzar fires back at the third Sentinel at a good enough angle to make it explode in half. Its Machine tentacles and head fall deeper into the water like a miscounted oil barrel, spewing oil on its way down. At the same time, the Nebuchadnezzar hovers swiftly into the Machine oil cloud to try to lose the two other Sentinels behind it.

Herold reflects with a slight chuckle, "Tank…wherever you are…I hope you're seeing this."

Neo reasons with partial assurance for Naimah and Morpheus, "war is always complicated: For all of us." Naimah solemnly nods.

She sighs hard as she gathers her Operator tools away from the Jack controls, "no shit." Morpheus heads for the cockpit. The Nebuchadnezzar briefly loses the first two Sentinels by diving further in a partially spiraling C shape path, but four more Sentinels coming up like jellyfish alert the first two to join them.

Trinity urges, "Morpheus, what is our heading?"

Morpheus figures as he sees the incoming Sentinels, "right now, any would…!" The Nebuchadnezzar barely speeds past them into a curving upward tube, but the first two Sentinels manage to hit with their lasers one of the Nebuchadnezzar's own two lasers. At the same time, the Nebuchadnezzar hits the two center Sentinels now right behind it with its rotating backward lasers to make Sentinels four through seven explode.

Herold simultaneously shouts, "Master Control Program, you're a…!" The laser overload makes some of the circuitry in front of him explode, knocking him hard against the floor coughing dark red liquid.

Tara shouts, "Herold!" The other two Sentinels have fallen back, too far away now to pick up the Nebuchadnezzar on sensors. No other Sentinels are pursing either. The Nebuchadnezzar's hover engines and lighting systems though fluctuate at the same time of the laser overload, leading it in built up momentum to slide dangerously on a N shaped part of tubing.

Morpheus urges, "given the circumstances, I'll treat him. You just do what you can to keep the Nebuchadnezzar together!" He quickly borrows Naimah's medical equipment while Neo heads for the engine room.

Trinity partially assures a shaken Tara, "you two get Herold on a medical bed! I'm saving the rest of our asses." Tara and Neo carry Herold to the medical bed. Morpheus stabilizes Herold's vital signs with help from hormone drops and a dark red vacuum tube like neural reconstructor. Trinity in the last second gets the fluctuating Nebuchadnezzar's systems to hover into a back and forth side pattern in the tubing.

Morpheus assures with a brief chuckle, "he'll be all right: Goddamn shithead. He just needs to rest for twenty."

With a brief chuckle from Neo and Tara, Tara sighs, "good…goddamn shithead." With help from Naimah in the engine room, the Nebuchadnezzar's systems stop fluctuating.

Naimah reports, "the Nebuchadnezzar's good for a half hour…but I can use all the spare circuits to get most things fully functioning again."

Morpheus reflects, "after two close calls, most is best. Get started."

Naimah adds, "yes, sir."

Neo suggests, "except for some Sentinel parts we can use."

Tara figures, "nice."

Morpheus reasons, "from the debris. Good. At the very least, we get another laser."

Trinity reports from sensor readings, "confirmed. At least six scattered Machine parts, back the way we came."

Tara wonders, "mind if I sit this one out?"

Morpheus decides, "I already had Trinity and Neo in mind for Machine salvage duty. Just don't get too comfortable."

Tara chuckles a little as she heads for her bunker, "joy killer."

As Trinity starts suiting up in scuba gear, Neo realizes lowly, "come to think of it, you're looking as if you saw a hell of a ghost. Does that message mean…?!" Morpheus motions Neo away from the medical bed before they move there.

Morpheus points out lowly, "I don't fricking know how to tell the rest of the crew myself…but you sure as hell would. Do you know what happened on September 15th 1963?"

Neo sighs hard, "the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. After breaking away from the Matrix, I thought many events were just part of Matrix made propaganda. Clearly though…"

Morpheus highlights, "you'd be surprised how much history is still intact in the Matrix: Up to a certain point. That's part of what makes it very hard to break away."

Neo pieces together, "then it's true. But if the Code's attacks stopped, then it wouldn't be on emergency..."

Morpheus summarizes, "exactly. In the steps of the attorney general William Baxley who brought justice to that bombing while stronger equal rights for race were beginning to be recognized, the Zion Council wants all General class crews including us to gather our own forces together for reinforcements against the Matrix: Both in justice and in law. But how us, Zion law, and a bombing figures into this…I can't begin to imagine."

Neo concludes lowly, "I sure don't want to imagine."

Trinity checks, "ready?"

Neo figures solemnly, "as I'll ever be." He goes to put on scuba gear.

Trinity in scuba gear wonders near the airlock, "what the hell is…?"

Morpheus partially assures, "physically or in spirit, the One will bring Heaven to our current Hell."

A few minutes later…

As Neo leaves with Trinity in scuba gear to salvage Machine parts, his senses suddenly go to hell. Rapid alternation between memory echoes of the Layer, the 2.0 Matrix, the 1.0 Matrix, what seems to be a Matrix made nursery grid for Matrix developed baby embryos from sperm and egg banks, the Code attack that led to Tank's death, and the most recent Sentinel attack make Neo scream in incomprehensible pain.

And as the out of nowhere chaos seems to slowly but surely fade away, Neo sees himself slightly getting up in a splitting opening steam surrounded Zion canister with Zion doctors around him.

Before he can react with all of the doctors' images fluctuating between Matrix code avatar make up and actually human, one of them greets in echoing resounding enhanced creepiness, "welcome back…Neo."

**The End of the Intermission…Or The Intermission's Beginning?**

**Please Feel Free To Comment On Or Continue This Storyline**


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